^63  Taylor,  |H.  ,S.  and  Pulwiler, 

eds»    .Lincoln's  words  on 
living  questions^  a  collection 


INCOLN  ROOM 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


Lincoln's  Words 
on  Living  Questions 


EDITED  BY 

H.  S.  TAYLOR 
AND  D.   M,   FULWILER 


TRUSTY  PUBLISHING  GO. 
413  Ro*noko  Bldg.  CHICAGO,  ILL. 


LINCOLN'S  WORDS  ON 
LIVING  QUESTIONS 


A  COLLECTION 

OF  AU,  THE  RECORDED   UTTERANCES    OF    ABRAHAM   LIN- 
BEARING   UPON  THE   QUESTIONS 
OF  TODAY. 


EDITED  BY 

H.  S.  TA  YLOR  and  D.  M.  FUL  WILER 


Paper,  25  cents.        Cloth,  75  cents 


THE  TRUSTY  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

418  Roanoke  Bldg.,  Chicago,  111. 


Copyrighted  1900, 

by 
H.  S.  TAYLOR. 


HIOAN   PRINTING  HOUSE,  CHICAGO 


PREFACE 


At  the  present  time,  when  our  Great  Republic  seems  to 
be  rapidly  entering  upon  new  and  untried  ways  of  profound 
moment  to  us  and  our  posterity,  it  is  but  a  reasonable 
prudence  that  the  American  people  should  seek  counsel  from 
the  now  universally  admitted  wisdom  and  patriotism  of 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  To  facilitate  such  inquiry  is  the 
purpose  of  this  book. 

In  the  following  pages  are  presented,  as  we  believe,  every 
recorded  quotable  expression  of  Mr.  Lincoln  bearing  upon 
questions  of  to-day,  with  dates  and  places  of  delivery  and 
with  authorities  therefor  cited.  For  convenience  these 
quotations  have  been  arranged  topically.  Every  accessible 
source  of  information  has  been  attentively  examined  by  the 
editors,  patiently  and  fairly,  with  the  purpose  of  collecting 
in  one  compact  volume  everything  of  enduring  value  and 
present  application  that  ever  fell  from  the  lips  or  flowed 
from  the  pen  of  the  Great  Bmancipator. 

In  the  course  of  our  investigations,  besides  numerous 
files  of  old  newspapers,  pamphlets,  etc.  ,  the  following  well 
known  authors  have  been  consulted,  viz.  :  —  Bancroft, 
Sumner,  Arnold,  Barrett,  Brockett,  Herndon  and  Weik,  Ray- 
mond, Hanaford,  Howells,  Powers,  Piatt,  Townsend,  Schurz, 
Coffin,  Morse,  VanBuren,  Gilmore,  L,amon,  Tarbell  and 
Davis,  Hapgood,  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Carpenter,  Irelan,  Kelly, 
Stoddard,  Coggeshall,  Boyd,  Tarbell  and  Shibley. 

H.  S.  TAYLOR. 
D.  M. 


INDEX. 

[The  numbers  refer  to  sections.] 

Autobiography  of  Lincoln I 

Capital,  Land  and  Labor 135-159 

Constitution  and  the  Law 84-109 

Courts  and  the  People 110-121 

Declaration  of  Independence,  meaning  and  purpose.2-iQ,  225 

Elections  and  Suffrage 122-134 

Emancipation,  War,  Peace,  Temperance 227-250 

Equality 2,  6,  7,  9,  10,  12,  13,  15,  17,  19 

Expansion  and  Foreign  Policy 160-169 

Foreign  Policy  and  Expansion 160-169 

Fusion,  Party  Policy,  etc 191-226 

Government  and  the  People 38-83 

Gold,  Silver,  Greenbacks,  Money 170-186 

Greenbacks,  Gold,  Silver,  Money 170-186 

Labor,  Land  and  Capital 135-159 

Law  and  Constitution 84-109 

Land,  Labor  and  Capital 135-159 

Liberty 20-37 

Lovejoy  Owen 239 

Money,  Greenbacks,  Silver,  Gold 170-186 

Miscellany,  War,  Peace,  Temperance 227-250 

Party  Policy,  Fusion 191-226 

People  and  Government 38-83 

People  and  the  Courts 1 10-121 

Peace,  War,  Temperance 227-250 

President,  Duties  and  Powers  of 86,  89,  97,  102 

Silver,  Gold,  Greenbacks,  Money 170-186 

Suffrage  and  Elections 122-134 

T»riff V.Y.'.Y.".:  ,86-190 

Temperance,  War,  Peace 227-250 

War,  Temperance,  Peace 227-250 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

I 

(December  20,  1859,  Letter  to  J.  W.  Fell— Complete  Works,  Nico- 
lay  and  Hay,  Vol.  I,  p.  596.) 

J.  W.  Fell,  Esq. 

My  dear  Sir:  Herewith  is  a  little  sketch,  as  you 
requested.  There  is  not  much  of  it,  for  the  reason, 
I  suppose,  that  there  is  not  much  of  me.  If  any- 
thing be  made  out  of  it,  I  wish  it  to  be  modest,  and 
not  to  go  beyond  the  material.  If  it  were  thought 
necessary  to  incorporate  anything  from  any  of  my 
speeches,  I  suppose  there  would  be  no  objection. 
Of  course  it  must  not  appear  to  have  been  written 
by  myself.  Yours  very  truly.  A.  Lincoln. 

I  was  born  February  12,  1809,  in  Hardin  county, 
Kentucky.  My  parents  were  both  born  in  Virginia, 
of  undistinguished  families — second  families,  per- 
haps I  should  say.  My  mother,  who  died  in  my 
tenth  year,  was  of  a  family  of  the  name  of  Hanks, 
some,  of  whom  now  reside  in  Adams,  and  others 
in  Macon  county,  Illinois.  My  paternal  grandfather, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  emigrated  from  Rockingham 
county,  Virginia,  to  Kentucky  about  1781  or  1782, 
where  a  year  or  two  later  he  was  killed  by  the 


6  Autobiography 

Indians,  not  in  battle,  but  by  stealth,  when  he  was 
laboring  to  open  a  farm  in  the  forest.  His  an- 
cestors, who  were  Quakers,  went  to  Virginia  from 
Berks  county,  Pennsylvania.  An  effort  to  identify 
them  with  the  New  England  family  of  the  same 
name  ended  in  nothing  more  definite  than  a  similar- 
ity of  Christian  names  in  both  families,  such  as 
Enoch,  Levi,  Mordecai,  Solomon,  Abraham,  and 
the  like. 

My  father  at  the  death  of  his  father  was  but  six 
years  of  age,  and  he  grew  up  literally  without  edu- 
cation. He  removed  from  Kentucky  to  what  is 
now  Spencer  county,  Indiana,  in  my  eighth  year. 
We  reached  our  new  home  about  the  time  the  State 
came  into  the  Union.  It  was  a  wild  region,  with 
many  bears  and  other  wild  animals  still  in  the 
woods.  There  I  grew  up.  There  were  some 
schools,  so  called,  but  no  qualification  was  ever  re- 
quired of  a  teacher  beyond  "readin',  writin',  and 
cipherin'  to  the  rule  of  three."  If  a  straggler  sup- 
posed to  understand  Latin  happened  to  sojourn  in 
the  neighborhood,  he  was  looked  upon  as  a  wizard. 
There  was  absolutely  nothing  to  excite  ambition  for 
education.  Of  course,  when  I  came  of  age  I  did 
not  know  much.  Still,  somehow,  I  could  read,  write 
and  cipher  to  the  rule  of  three,  but  that  was  all. 
I  have  not  been  to  school  since.  The  little  advance 
I  now  have  upon  this  store  of  education  I  have 


Autobiography  7 

picked  up  from  time  to  time  under  the  pressure  of 
necessity. 

I  was  raised  to  farm  work,  which  I  continued 
till  I  was  twenty-two.  At  twenty-one  I  came 
to  Illinois,  Macon  county.  Then  I  got  to  New 
Salem,  at  the  time  in  Sangamon,  now  in  Men- 
ard  county,  where  I  remained  a  year  as  a  sort 
of  clerk  in  a  store.  Then  came  the  Black  Hawk 
war,  and  I  was  elected  a  captain  of  volunteers,  a 
success  that  gave  me  more  pleasure  than  any  I  have 
had  since.  I  went  through  the  campaign,  was 
elated,  ran  for  the  Legislature  the  same  year  (1832) 
and  was  beaten — the  only  time  I  ever  have  been 
beaten  by  the  people.  The  next  and  three  suc- 
ceeding biennial  elections  I  was  elected  to  the  Leg- 
islature. I  was  not  a  candidate  afterward.  During 
this  legislative  period  I  had  studied  law,  and  re- 
moved to  Springfield  to  practice  it.  In  1846  I  was 
once  elected  to  the  Lower  House  of  Congress.  Was 
not  a  candidate  for  re-election.  From  1849  to  J854, 
both  inclusive,  practised  more  assiduously  than  ever 
before.  Always  a  Whig  in  politics;  and  generally 
on  the  Whig  electoral  tickets,  making  active  can- 
vasses. I  was  losing  interest  in  politics  when  the 
repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  aroused  me 
again.  What  I  have  done  since  then  is  pretty  well 
known. 

If  any  personal  description  of  me  is  thought  de- 


8  Autobiography 

sirable,  it  may  be  said  I  am,  in  height,  six  feet  four 
inches,  nearly;  lean  in  flesh,  weighing  on  an  aver- 
age one  hundred  and  eighty  pounds;  dark  com- 
plexion, with  coarse  black  hair  and  gray  eyes.  No 
other  marks  or  brands  recollected. 

Yours  truly, 
Hon.  J.  W.  Fell.  A.  Lincoln. 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 
MEANING  AND  PURPOSE. 


(August    12,    1858,    Speech  at  Beardstown,    111.— Life    by  Herndon, 
p.  415.     Speaking  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic.) 

These  by  their  representatives  in  old  Independ- 
ence Hall  said  to  the  whole  race  of  men :  "We  hold 
these  truths  to  be  self-evident:  that  all  men  are 
created  equal;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Cre- 
ator with  certain  inalienable  rights;  that  among 
these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 
This  was  their  majestic  interpretation  of  the  econ- 
omy of  the  universe.  This  was  their  lofty,  and  wise, 
and  noble  understanding  of  the  justice  of  the  Crea- 
tor to  His  creatures.  Yes,  gentlemen,  to  all  his 
creatures,  to  the  whole  great  family  of  man.  In 
their  enlightened  belief,  nothing  stamped  with  the 
divine  image  and  likeness  was  sent  into  the  world 
to  be  trodden  on  and  degraded  and  imbruted  by  its 
fellows.  They  grasped  not  only  the  whole  race  of 
man  then  living,  but  they  reached  forward  and 
seized  upon  the  farthest  posterity.  They  erected 
a  beacon  to  guide  their  children,  and  their  children's 
children,  and  the  countless  myriads  who  should  in- 

9 


io  Declaration  of  Independence 

habit  the  earth  in  other  ages.  Wise  statesmen  as 
they  were,  they  knew  the  tendency  of  prosperity  to 
breed  tyrants,  and  so  they  established  these  great 
self-erident  truths,  that  when,  in  the  distant  future, 
some  man,  some  faction,  some  interest,  should  set 
up  the  doctrine  that  none  but  rich  men,  none  but 
white  men,  or  none  but  Anglo-Saxon  white  men 
were  entitled  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  hap- 
piness, their  posterity  might  look  up  again  to  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  take  courage  to 
renew  the  battle  which  their  fathers  began,  so  that 
truth  and  justice  and  mercy  and  all  the  humane 
and  Christian  virtues  might  not  be  extinguished 
from  the  land ;  so  that  no  man  would  hereafter  dare 
to  limit  and  circumscribe  the  great  principles  on 
which  the  temple  of  liberty  was  being  built. 

Now,  my  countrymen,  if  you  have  been  taught 
doctrines  conflicting  with  the  great  landmarks  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence;  if  you  have  lis- 
tened to  suggestions  which  would  take  away  from 
its  grandeur  and  mutilate  the  fair  symmetry  of  its 
proportions;  if  you  have  been  inclined  to  believe 
that  all  men  are  not  created  equal  in  those  inalien- 
able rights  enumerated  by  our  chart  of  liberty;  let 
me  entreat  you  to  come  back.  Return  to  the  foun- 
tain whose  waters  spring  close  by  the  blood  of  the 
Revolution.  Think  nothing  of  me ;  take  no  thought 
for  the  political  fate  of  any  man  whomsoever,  but 


Meaning  and  Purpose  1 1 

come  back  to  the  truths  that  are  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  You  may  do  anything  with  me 
you  choose,  if  you  will  but  heed  these  sacred  prin- 
ciples. You  may  not  only  defeat  me  for  the  Senate, 
but  you  may  take  me  and  put  me  to  death.  While 
pretending  no  indifference  to  earthly  honors,  I  do 
claim  to  be  actuated  in  this  contest  by  something 
higher  than  an  anxiety  for  office.  I  charge  you  to 
drop  every  paltry  and  insignificant  thought  for 
any  man's  success.  It  is  nothing;  I  am  nothing; 
Judge  Douglas  is  nothing.  But  do  not  destroy  that 
immortal  emblem  of  humanity — the  Declaration  of 
American  Independence! 


(February   22,    1861,    Speech    at    Independence    Hall,    Philadelphia, 
Pa.— Life  by  Raymond,  p.  154.) 

I  am  filled  with  deep  emotion  at  finding  myself 
standing  here,  in  this  place,  where  were  collected 
the  wisdom,  patriotism,  the  devotion  to  principle, 
from  which  sprang  the  institutions  under  which  we 
live. 

You  have  kindly  suggested  to  me  that  in  my 
hands  is  the  task  of  restoring  peace  to  the  present 
distracted  condition  of  the  country.  I  can  say  in 
return,  sir,  that  all  the  political  sentiments  I  enter- 
tain have  been  drawn,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able 
to  draw  them,  from  the  sentiments  which  originated 


12  Declaration  of  Independence 

and  were  given  to  the  world  from  this  hall.  I  have 
never  had  a  feeling  politically  that  did  not  spring 
from  the  sentiments  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  I  have  often  pondered  over  the  dan- 
gers which  were  incurred  by  the  men  who  as- 
sembled here  and  framed  and  adopted  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence.  I  have  pondered  over  the 
toils  that  were  endured  by  the  officers  and  soldiers 
of  the  army  who  achieved  that  independence. 

*  *  *  I  have  often  inquired  of  myself  what 
great  principle  or  idea  it  was  that  kept  this  con- 
federacy so  long  together,  ft  was  not  the  mere 
matter  of  the  separation  of  the  colonies  from  the 
mother  land,  but  that  sentiment  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  which  gave  liberty,  not  alone  to 
the  people  of  this  country,  but,  I  hope,  to  the  world 
for  all  future  time.  It  was  that  which  gave  promise 
that  in  due  time  the  weight  would  be  lifted  from 
the  shoulders  of  all  men.  This  is  the  sentiment  em- 
bodied in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Now, 
my  friends,  can  this  country  be  saved  on  this  basis? 
If  it  can,  I  will  consider  myself  one  of  the  happiest 
men  in  the  world  if  I  can  help  to  save  it.  If  it  can- 
not be  saved  on  that  principle  it  will  be  truly  awful. 
But  if  this  country  cannot  be  saved  without  giving 
up  that  principle,  I  was  about  to  say,  I  would  rather 
be  assassinated  on  this  spot  than  surrender  it.  *  * 
*  I  have  said  nothing  but  what  I  am  willing  to  live 


Meaning  and  Purpose  13 

by,  and  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  Almighty  God,  to 
die  by. 


(July  10,  1858,  Speech  at  Chicago,  111.— Debates,  p.  22.) 

Now  it  happens  that  we  meet  together  once  every 
year,  sometimes  about  the  Fourth  of  July  for  some 
reason  or  other.  These  Fourth  of  July  gatherings  I 
suppose  have  their  uses.  If  yoii  will  indulge  me  I 
will  state  what  I  suppose  to  be  some  of  them. 

We  are  now  a  mighty  nation;  we  are  thirty  or 
about  thirty  millions  of  people,  and  we  own  and  in- 
habit about  one-fifteenth  part  of  the  dry  land  of  the 
whole  earth.  We  run  our  memory  back  over  the 
pages  of  history  for  about  eighty-two  years,  and  we 
discover  that  we  were  then  a  very  small  people  in 
point  of  numbers,  vastly  inferior  to  what  we  are 
now,  with  a  vastly  less  extent  of  country,  with 
vastly  less  of  everything  we  deem  desirable  among 
men.  We  look  upon  the  change  as  exceedingly  ad- 
vantageous to  us  and  to  our  posterity,  and  we  fix 
upon  something  that  happened  away  back  as  in 
some  way  or  other  being  connected  with  this  rise 
of  prosperity.  We  find  a  race  of  men  living  in  that 
day  whom  we  claim  as  our  fathers  and  grandfathers ; 
they  were  iron  men;  they  fought  for  the  principle 
they  were  contending  for;  and  we  understood  that 
by  what  they  then  did  it  has  followed  that  the  de- 


14  Declaration  of  Independence 

gree  of  prosperity  which  we  now  enjoy  has  come  to 
us.  We  hold  this  annual  celebration  to  remind  our- 
selves of  all  the  good  done  in  this  process  of  time, 
of  how  it  was  done  and  who  did  it,  and  how  we  are 
historically  connected  with  it ;  and  we  go  from  these 
meetings  in  better  humor  with  ourselves,  we  feel 
more  attached,  the  one  to  the  other,  and  more 
firmly  bound  to  the  country  we  inhabit.  In  every 
way  we  are  better  men  in  the  age  and  race  and 
country  in  which  we  live  for  these  celebrations.  But 
after  we  have  done  all  this  we  have  not  yet  reached 
the  whole.  There  is  something  else  connected  with 
it.  We  have  besides  these,  men — descended  by 
blood  from  our  ancestors — among  us,  perhaps  half 
of  our  people,  who  are  not  descendants  at  all  of 
these  men;  they  are  men  who  have  come  from 
Europe — German,  Irish,  French  and  Scandinavian 
— men  that  have  come  from  Europe  themselves,  or 
whose  ancestors  have  come  hither  and  settled  here, 
finding  themselves  our  equals  in  all  things.  If  they 
look  back  through  this  history  to  trace  their  con- 
nection with  those  days  by  blood  they  find  they  have 
none.  They  cannot  carry  themselves  back  into  that 
glorious  epoch  and  make  themselves  feel  that  they 
are  part  of  us,  but  when  they  look  through  that  old 
Declaration  of  Independence  they  find  that  those  old 
men  say  that  "We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evi- 
dent, that  all  men  are  created  equal,"  and  then  the\ 


Meaning  and  Purpose  15 

feel  that  that  moral  sentiment,  taught  in  that  day, 
evidences  their  relation  to  those  men,  that  it  is  the 
father  of  all  moral  principle  in  them  and  that  they 
have  a  right  to  claim  it  as  though  they  were  blood 
of  the  blood  and  flesh  of  the  flesh  of  the  men  who 
wrote  that  Declaration,  and  so  they  are.  That  is  the 
electric  cord  in  that  Declaration  that  links  the  hearts 
of  patriotic  and  liberty-loving  men  together,  that 
will  link  those  patriotic  hearts  as  long  as  the  love  of 
freedom  exists  in  the  minds  of  men  throughout  the 
world. 

5 

(February  21,  1861,  Address  to  the  Senate  of  New  Jersey.— Life  by 
Hanaford,  p.  69.) 

Away  back  in  my  childhood,  the  earliest  days  of 
my  being  able  to  read,  I  got  hold  of  a  small  book, 
such  a  one  as  few  of  the  younger  members  have 
ever  seen — "Weem's  Life  of  Washington."  I  re- 
member all  the  accounts  there  given  of  the  battle- 
fields and  struggles  for  the  liberty  of  the  country, 
and  none  fixed  themselves  upon  my  imagination  so 
deeply  as  the  struggle  here  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey. 
The  crossing  of  the  river,  the  contest  with  the  Hes- 
sians, the  great  hardships  endured  at  that  time,  all 
fixed  themselves  on  my  memory  more  than  any 
single  Revolutionary  event;  and  you  all  know,  for 
you  have  all  been  boys,  how  these  early  impressions 
last  longer  than  any  others.  I  recollect  thinking 


1 6  Declaration  of  Independence 

then,  boy  even  though  I  was,  that  there  must  have 
been  something  more  than  common  that  those  men 
struggled  for.  I  am  exceedingly  anxious  that  that 
thing  which  they  struggled  for,  that  something  even 
more  than  national  independence,  that  something 
that  held  out  a  great  promise  to  all  the  people  of 
the  world  in  all  time  to  come — I  am  exceedingly 
anxious  that  this  Union,  the  Constitution  and  the 
liberties  of  the  people  shall  be  perpetuated  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  original  idea  for  which  that 
struggle  was  made,  and  I  shall  be  happy,  indeed,  if 
I  shall  be  a  humble  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the 
Almighty,  and  of  this,  His  almost  chosen  people, 
for  perpetuating  the  object  of  that  great  struggle. 


(October   15,   1858,    Speech  at  Alton,   111.— Debates,   p.    225.) 

I  think  the  authors  of  that  notable  instrument  in- 
tended to  include  all  men,  but  they  did  not  mean  to 
declare  all  men  equal  in  all  respects.  They  did  not 
mean  to  say  that  all  men  were  equal  in  color,  size, 
intellect,  moral  development  or  social  capacity. 
They  defined  with  tolerable  distinctness  in  what 
they  did  consider  all  men  created  equal — equal  in 
certain  inalienable  rights,  among  which  are  life, 
liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  This  they  said 
and  this  they  meant.  They  did  not  mean  to  assert 
the  obvious  untruth,  that  all  were  then  actually  en- 


Meaning  and  Purpose  1 7 

joying  that  equality,  or  yet,  that  they  were  about 
to  confer  it  immediately  upon  them.  In  fact  they 
had  no  power  to  confer  such  a  boon.  They  meant 
simply  to  declare  the  right  so  that  the  enforcement 
of  it  might  follow  as  fast  as  circumstances  should 
permit.  They  meant  to  set  up  a  standard  maxim  for 
free  society  which  should  be  familiar  to  all;  con- 
stantly looked  to,  constantly  labored  for,  and  even, 
though  never  perfectly  attained,  constantly  approx- 
imated, and  thereby  constantly  spreading  and 
deepening  its  influence  and  augmenting  the  happi- 
ness and  value  of  life  to  all  people  of  all  colors, 
everywhere. 

7 

(June  26,   1857,   Speech  at   Springfield,   111.— Life  and  Speeches   by 
Howells,  p.  181.) 

The  assertion  "That  all  men  are  created  equal" 
was  of  no  practical  use4n  effecting  our  separation 
from  Great  Britain ;  and  it  was  placed  in  the 
Declaration,  not  for  that,  but  for  future  use.  Its 
authors  meant  it  to  be — as,  thank  God,  it  is  now 
proving  itself,  a  stumbling-block  to  all  those  who  in 
after  times  might  seek  to  turn  a  free  people  back 
into  the  hateful  paths  of  despotism.  They  knew  the 
proneness  of  prosperity  to  breed  tyrants  and  they 
meant,  when  such  should  reappear  in  this  fair  land 
and  commence  their  vocation,  they  should  find  left 
for  them,  at  least,  one  hard  nut  to  crack. 


1 8  Declaration  of  Independence 

8 

(June  26,  1857,  Speech  at  Springfield,  111.— Hov/ells,  p.  182.  An- 
swering Judge  Douglas'  argument  that  the  Declaration  was 
adopted  for  the  purpose  of  justifying  the  colonists  in  the 
eyes  of  the  civilized  world  in  withdrawing  their  allegiance 
from  the  British  crown.) 

My  good  friends,  read  that  carefully  over  some 
leisure  hour,  and  ponder  well  upon  it;  see  what  a 
mere  wreck — mangled  ruin — it  makes  of  our  once 
glorious  Declaration.  ''They  were  speaking  of  Brit- 
ish subjects  on  this  continent  being  equal  to  British 
subjects  born  and  residing  in  Great  Britain?"  Why, 
according  to  this,  not  only  negroes  but  white  people 
outside  of  Great  Britain  and  America  were  not 
spoken  of  in  that  instrument.  The  English,  Irish 
and  Scotch,  along  with  white  Americans,  were  in- 
cluded, to  be  sure;  but  the  French,  Germans  and 
other  white  people  of  the  world  are  all  gone  to  pot 
along  with  the  Judge's  inferior  races! 

I  had  thought  that  the  Declaration  promised 
something  better  than  the  condition  of  British  sub- 
jects; but  no,  it  only  meant  that  we  should  be  equal 
to  them  in  their  own  oppressed  and  unequal  con- 
dition. According  to  that  it  gave  no  promise  that 
having  kicked  off  the  king  and  lords  of  Great  Brit- 
ain we  should  not  at  once  be  saddled  with  a  king 
and  lords  of  our  own.  I  had  thought  the  Declar- 
ation contemplated  the  progressive  improvement  in 
the  condition  of  all  men  everywhere,  but  no  it 
merely  "was  adopted  for  the  purpose  of  justifying 


Meaning  and  Purpose  19 

the  colonies  in  the  eyes  of  the  civilized  world  in 
withdrawing  their  connection  with  the  motiier 
country." 

Why,    that   object   having  been   effected   some, 
eighty  years  ago,  the  Declaration  is  of  no  practical 
use  now — mere  rubbish — old  wadding  left  to  rot 
on  the  battle-field  after  the  victory  is  won. 


(July  10,  1858,  Speech  at  Chicago,  111.— Debates,  p.  23.) 

Those  arguments  that  are  made,  that  the  inferior 
race  are  to  be  treated  with  as  much  allowance  as 
they  are  capable  of  enjoying,  that  as  much  is  to  be 
done  for  them  as  their  condition  will  allow, — what 
are  these  arguments?  They  are  the  arguments  that 
kings  have  made  for  enslaving  the  people  in  all  ages 
of  the  world.  You  will  find  that  all  the  arguments 
in  favor  of  king-craft  were  of  this  class ;  they  always 
bestrode  the  necks  of  the  people,  not  that  they 
wanted  to  do  it,  but  because  the  people  were  better 
off  for  being  ridden.  That  is  their  argument. 
*  *  *  Turn  in  whatever  way  you  will — whether 
it  come  from  the  mouth  of  a  king  as  an  excuse  for 
enslaving  the  people  of  his  country,  or  from  the 
mouth  of  men  of  one  race  as  a  reason  for  enslaving 
the  men  of  another  race,  it  is  all  the  same  old  ser- 
pent; and  I  hold  if  that  course  of  argumentation 
that  is  made  for  the  purpose  of  convincing  the  pub- 


20  Declaration  of  Independence 

lie  mind  that  we  should  not  care  about  this,  should 
be  granted,  it  does  not  stop  with  the  negro.  I 
should  like  to  know,  if,  taking  this  old  Declaration 
of  Independence,  which  declares  that  all  men  are 
equal  upon  principle  and  making  exceptions  to  it, 
where  will  it  stop?  If  one  man  says  it  does  not  mean 
a  negro,  why  not  another  say  it  does  not  mean 
some  other  man?  If  that  Declaration  is  not  the 
truth,  let  us  get  the  statute  book  in  which  we  find  it, 
and  tear  it  out!  Who  is  so  bold  as  to  do  it!  If  it 
is  not  true  let  us  tear  it  out.  (Cries  of  No,  No.)  Let 
us  stick  to  it  then,  let  us  stand  firmly  by  it,  then! 
*  *  *  Let  us  discard  all  this  quibbling  about 
this  man  or  the  other  man,  this  race  and  that  race, 
and  the  other  race  being  inferior  and  therefore  they 
must  be  placed  in  an  inferior  position — discarding 
our  standard  that  we  have  left  us!  Let  us  discard 
all  these  things  and  unite  as  one  people  throughout 
this  land  until  we  shall  once  more  stand  up  declar- 
ing that  all  men  are  created  equal.  *  *  *  I 
leave  you  hoping  that  the  lamp  of  liberty  will  burn 
in  your  bosoms  until  there  shall  no  longer  be  a 
doubt  that  all  men  are  created  equal. 

10 

(July  17,  1858,   Speech  at  Springfield,  111.— Debates,  p.  63.) 

I  have  said  that  I  do  not  understand  the  Declara- 
tion to  mean  that  all  men  were  created  equal  in  all 


Meaning  and  Purpose  21 

respects.  They  are  not  our  equal  in  color;  but  I 
suppose  that  it  does  mean  to  declare  that  all  men  are 
equal  in  their  right  to  "life,  liberty,  arid  the  pursuit 
of  happiness."  Certainly  the  negro  is  not  our  equal 
in  color — perhaps  not  in  many  other  respects — 
still  in  the  right  to  put  into  his  mouth  the  bread 
that  his  own  hands  have  earned,  he  is  the  equal  of 
every  other  man,  white  or  black.  In  pointing  out 
that  more  has  been  given  you,  you  cannot  be  justi- 
fied in  taking  away  the  little  which  has  been  given 
him.  All  I  ask  for  the  negro  is  that  if  you  do  not 
like  him,  let  him  alone.  If  God  gave  him  but  little, 
that  little  let  him  enjoy. 

II 

(July  4,  1861,  Message.— Pen  and  Voice,  Van  Buren,  p.  91;  Speak- 
ing of  the  Confederate  Constitution.) 

Our  adversaries  have  adopted  some  declaration  of 
independence,  in  which,  unlike  the  good  old  one 
penned  by  Jefferson,  they  omit  the  words  "All  men 
are  created  equal."  Why?  They  have  adopted  a 
temporary  national  constitution,  in  the  preamble  of 
which,  unlike  our  good  old  one  signed  by  Washing- 
ton, they  omit  "We  the  people"  and  substitute  "We 
the  deputies  of  the  sovereign  and  independent 
States."  Why?  Why  this  deliberate  pressing  out  of 
view  the  rights  of  men  and  the  authority  of  the 
people?  This  is  essentially  a  people's  contest.  On 


22  Declaration  of  Independence 

the  side  of  the  Union,  it  is  a  struggle  for  main- 
taining in  the  world  that  form  and  substance  of 
government  whose  leading  object  is  to  elevate  the 
condition  of  men;  to  lift  artificial  weights  from  all 
shoulders;  to  clear  the  paths  of  laudable  pursuits  to 
all ;  to  afford  all  an  unfettered  start  and  a  fair  chance 
in  the  race  of  life.  Yielding  to  partial  and  tempo- 
rary departures,  from  necessity,  this  is  the  leading 
object  of  the  government  for  whose  existence  we 
contend  and  I  am  most  happy  to  believe  that  the 
plain  people  understand  and  appreciate  this. 

12 

(July  10,  1858,  Speech  at  Chicago,  111.— Debates,  p.  23.) 

It  is  said  in  one  of  the  admonitions  of  our  Lord, 
"As  your  Father  in  Heaven  is  perfect,  be  ye  also 
perfect."  The  Saviour,  I  suppose,  did  not  expect 
that  any  human  creature  could  be  perfect  as  the 
Father  in  Heaven;  but  he  said,  "As  your  Father  in 
Heaven  is  perfect,  be  ye  also  perfect."  He  set  that 
up  as  a  standard,  and  he  who  did  most  toward 
reaching  that  standard,  attained  the  highest  degree 
of  moral  perfection.  So  I  say  in  relation  to  the  prin- 
ciple that  all  men  are  created  equal,  let  it  be  as 
nearly  reached  as  we  can.  If  we  cannot  give  free- 
dom to  every  creature,  let  us  do  nothing  that  will 
impose  slavery  upon  any  other  creature.  Let  us, 
then,  turn  this  government  back  into  the  channel 


Meaning  and  Purpose  23 

in  which  the  framers  of  the  constitution  originally 
placed  it. 

13 

(August  24,   1858,   Letter  to  Mr.   Speed— Hanaford,   p.  226.) 

Our  progress  in  degeneracy  appears  to  me  to  be 
pretty  rapid.  As  a  nation,  we  began  by  declaring 
that  "All  men  are  created  equal."  We  now,  prac- 
tically, read  it,  "All  men  are  created  equal  except 
negroes."  When  the  know-nothings  get  control  it 
will  read:  "All  men  are  created  equal  except  ne- 
groes, and  foreigners  and  Catholics."  When  it 
comes  to  this  I  should  prefer  emigrating  to  some 
country  where  they  make  no  pretense  of  loving 
liberty, — to  Russia,  for  instance,  where  despotism 
can  be  taken  pure  and  without  the  base  alloy  of 
hypocrisy. 

14 

(June   26,    1857,    Speech   at  Springfield,   111.— Raymond,   p.   48.) 

In  those  days  our  Declaration  of  Independence 
was  held  sacred  by  all,  and  thought  to  include  all; 
but  now  to  aid  in  making  the  bondage  of  the  negro 
universal  and  eternal  it  is  assailed  and  sneered  at 
and  construed  and  hawked  at  and  torn,  till,  if  its 
framers  could  rise  from  their  graves,  they  could  not 
at  all  recognize  it. 


24  Declaration  of  Independence 

15 

(December  10,  1856,  Speech  at  banquet  in  Chicago,  111.— Complete 
Works,    Vol.     I,  p.  226.) 

Thus  let  bygones  be  bygones,  let  past  differences 
as  nothing  be  and  with  steady  eye  on  the  real  issue 
let  us  reinaugurate  the  good  old  "central  ideas"  of 
the  republic.  We  can  do  it.  The  human  heart  is 
with  us!  God  is  with  us!  We  shall  again  be  able 
not  to  declare  that  "all  States  as  States  are  equal," 
nor  yet  that  all  "citizens  as  citizens  are  equal,"  but 
to  renew  the  broader,  better  declaration,  including 
both  these  and  much  more,  that  all  men  are  created 
equal! 

16 

(October  16,  1854,  Speech  at  Peoria,  111.— Howells,  p.  294.) 

Let  us  readopt  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  with  it  the  practices  and  policy  which  harmon- 
ize with  it.  Let  North  and  South — let  all  Americans 
— let  all  lovers  of  liberty  everywhere  join  in  the 
great  and  good  work.  If  we  do  this,  we  shall  not 
only  save  the  Union,  but  we  shall  have  so  saved 
it  as  to  make  and  keep  it  forever  worthy  of  the 
saving.  We  shall  have  so  saved  it  that  the  suc- 
ceeding millions  of  free,  happy  people,  the  world 
over,  shall  rise  up  and  call  us  blessed  to  the  latest 
generations. 


Meaning  and  Purpose  25 

17 

(August  15,  1855,   Letter   to  George   Robertson— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I.  p.  216.) 

When  we  were  the  political  slaves  of  King 
George,  and  wanted  to  be  free  we  called  the  maxim 
that  "all  men  are  created  equal"  a  self-evident  truth ; 
but  now  when  we  have  grown  fat  and  have  lost  all 
dread  of  being  slaves  ourselves,  we  have  become 
so  greedy  to  be  masters  that  we  call  the  same 
maxim  "a  self-evident  lie."  The  Fourth  of  July  has 
not  quite  dwindled  away ;  it  is  still  a  great  day — for 
burning  fire-crackers! 

18 

(February  21,  1861,  Speech  at  Continental  Hotel,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
—Complete  Works,  Vol.  I,  p.  690.) 

Your  worthy  Mayor  has  expressed  the  wish,  in 
which  I  join  with  him,  that  it  were  convenient  for 
me  to  remain  in  your  city  long  enough  to  consult 
your  merchants  and  manufacturers;  or,  as  it  were 
to  listen  to  those  breathings  rising  within  the  con- 
secrated walls  wherein  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and.  I  will  add,  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  were  originally  framed  and  adopted. 
I  assure  you  and  your  Mayor  that  I  had  hoped  on 
this  occasion,  and  upon  all  occasions  during  my 
life,  that  I  shall  do  nothing  inconsistent  with  the 
teachings  of  these  holy  and  most  sacred  walls.  I 
have  never  asked  anything  that  does  not  breathe 


26  Declaration  of  Independence 

from  these  walls.  All  my  political  warfare  has 
been  in  favor  of  the  teachings  that  came  forth  from 
these  sacred  walls.  May  my  right  hand  forget  its 
cunning  and  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my 
mouth  if  ever  I  prove  false  to  those  teachings. 

19 

(October  16,  1854,  Speech  at  Peoria,  111.— Howells,  p.  292.  By  the 
phrase  "Nebraska  men"  Mr.  Lincoln  meant  supporters  of  the 
Nebraska  Bill.) 

Little  by  little,  but  steadily  as  man's  march  to  the 
grave,  we  have  been  giving  up  the  old  for  the  new 
faith.  Near  eighty  years  ago  we  began  by  declaring 
that  all  men  are  created  equal;  but,  now,  from  that 
beginning  we  have  run  down  to  the  other  declara- 
tion that  for  some  men  to  enslave  others  is  a  "sacred 
right  of  self-government."  These  principles  cannot 
stand  together.  They  are  as  opposite  as  God  and 
Mammcjn;  and  whoever  holds  to  the  one  must  de- 
spise the  other.  When  Pettit,  in  connection  with 
his  support  of  the  Nebraska  Bill,  called  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  "a  self-evident  lie"  he  only  did 
what  consistency  and  candor  required  all  other 
Nebraska  men  to  do.  Of  the  forty  odd  Nebraska 
Senators  who  sat  present  and  heard  him,  no  one 
rebuked  him.  Nor  am  I  apprised  that  any  Ne- 
braska newspaper  or  any  Nebraska  orator  in  the 
whole  nation  has  ever  yet  rebuked  him.  If  this 
had  been  said  among  Marion's  men,  Southerners 


Meaning  and  Purpose  27 

though  they  were,  what  would  have  become  of 
the  man  who  said  it?  If  this  had  been  said  to 
the  men  who  captured  Andre,  the  man  who  said 
it  would  probably  have  been  hung  sooner  than 
Andre  was.  If  it  had  been  said  in  old  Independ- 
ence Hall  seventy-eight  years  ago,  the  very  door- 
keeper would  have  throttled  the  man  and  thrust 
him  into  the  street. 


LIBERTY. 
20 

(March     4,     1865,     Second    Inaugural    Address— The    Man    of   the 
People,   Hapgood,  p.  404.) 

Neither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  magnitude 
or  the  duration  which  it  has  already  attained. 
Neither  anticipated  that  the  cause  of  the  conflict 
might  cease  with,  or  even  before,  the  conflict,  itself, 
should  cease.  Each  looked  for  an  easier  triumph, 
and  a  result  less  fundamental  and  astounding.  Both 
read  the  same  Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same  God;  and 
each  invokes  His  aid  against  the  other.  It  may 
seem  strange  that  any  men  should  dare  to  ask  a 
just  God's  assistance  in  wringing  their  bread  from 
the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces;  but  let  us  judge  not, 
that  we  be  not  judged.  The  prayers  of  both  could 
not  be  answered — that  of  neither  has  been  answered 
fully. 

The  Almighty  has  His  own  purposes.  "Woe 
unto  the  world  because  of  offenses;  for  it  must 
needs  be  that  offenses  come,  but  woe  to  that  man  by 
whom  the  offense  cometh."  If  we  shall  suppose 
that  American  slavery  is  one  of  those  offenses 
which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  must  needs  come, 
but  which  having  continued  through  His  appointed 

29 


30  Liberty 

time,  He  now  wills  to  remove  and  that  He  gives  to 
both  North  and  South  this  terrible  war  as  the  woe 
due  to  those  by  whom  the  offense  came,  shall  we  dis- 
cern therein  any  departure  from  those  divine  at- 
tributes which  the  believers  in  a  living  God  always 
ascribe  to  him?  Fondly  do  we  hope — fervently  do 
we  pray — that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may 
speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it  con- 
tinue until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall 
be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with 
the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn  with  the 
sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still 
it  must  be  said,  "The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are 
true  and  righteous  altogether!" 

With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all, 
with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see 
the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are 
in ;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds ;  to  care  for  him 
who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow 
and  his  orphan — to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and 
cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves 
and  with  all  nations. 

21 

(January   27,    1837,    Speech   at   Springfield,    111.— Complete   Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  14.     Speaking  of  the  Revolution.) 

At  the  close  of  that  struggle  nearly  every  adult 
male  had  been  a  participator  in  some  of  its  scenes. 


Liberty  31 

The  consequence  was  that  of  those  scenes  in  the 
form  of  a  husband,  a  father,  a  son  or  a  brother,  a 
living  history  was  to  be  found  in  every  family — a 
history  bearing  the  indubitable  testimonies  of  its 
own  authenticity,  in  the  limbs  mangled,  in  the  scars 
of  wounds  received,  in  the  midst  of  the  very  scenes 
related — a  history,  too.  that  could  be  read  and 
understood  alike  by  all,  the  wise  and  the  ignorant, 
the  learned  and  the  unlearned.  But  those  histories 
are  gone.  They  can  be  read  no  more  forever.  They 
were  a  fortress  of  strength ;  but  what  invading  foe- 
man  could  never  do,  the  silent  artillery  of  time  has 
done — the  levelling  of  its  walls.  They  are  gone. 
They  were  a  forest  of  giant  oaks ;  but  the  all-restless 
hurricane  has  swept  over  them  and  left  only  here 
and  there  a  lonely  trunk,  despoiled  of  its  verdure, 
shorn  of  its  foliage,  unshading  and  unshaded,  to 
murmur  in  a  few  more  gentle  breezes,  and  to  com- 
bat with  its  mutilated  limbs  a  few  more  ruder 
storms,  then  to  sink  and  be  no  more! 

22 

(September  11,  1858,  Speech,  reported  in  Chicago  Daily  Press  and 
Tribune,     September  15,  1858.) 

And  when  by  all  these  means  you  have  succeeded 
in  dehumanizing  the  negro;  when  you  have  put 
him  down,  and  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  be  but 
as  the  beasts  of  the  field;  when  you  have  ex- 
tinguished his  soul  and  placed  him  where  the  ray 


32  Liberty 

of  hope  is  blown  out  in  the  darkness  that  broods 
over  the  spirits  of  the  damned,  are  you  quite  sure 
the  demon  you  have  roused  will  not  turn  and  rend 
you?  What  constitutes  the  bulwark  of  our  own 
liberty  and  independence?  It  is  not  our  frowning 
battlements,  our  bristling  seacoasts,  the  guns  of 
our  war  steamers  or  the  strength  of  our  gallant  and 
disciplined  army.  These  are  not  our  reliance 
against  a  resumption  of  tyranny  in  our  fair  land. 
All  of  them  may  be  turned  against  our  liberties 
without  making  us  stronger  or  weaker  for  the 
struggle.  Our  reliance  is  in  the  love  of  liberty 
which  God  has  planted  in  our  bosoms.  Our  de- 
fense is  in  the  preservation  of  the  spirit  which  prizes 
liberty  as  the  heritage  of  all  men,  in  all  lands  every- 
where. Destroy  this  spirit  and  you  have  planted 
the  seeds  of  despotism  around  your  own  doors. 
Familiarize  yourselves  with  the  chains  of  bondage 
and  you  are  preparing  your  own  limbs  to  wear 
them.  Accustomed  to  trample  on  the  rights  of 
those  around  you,  you  have  lost  the  genius  of  your 
own  independence  and  become  the  fit  subjects  of 
the  first  cunning  tyrant  who  rises  among  you. 
And,  let  me  tell  you,  all  these  things  are  prepared 
for  you,  with  the  sure  logic  of  history,  if  the  elec- 
tions shall  promise  that  the  next  Dred  Scott  de- 
cision and  all  future  decisions  will  be  quietly  ac- 
quiesced in  by  the  people! 


Liberty  33 

23 

(January  27,  1837,  Speech  at  Springfield,  111.— Hapgood,  p.  60.) 

At  what  point  shall  we  expect  the  approach  of 
danger?  By  what  means  shall  we  fortify  against 
it?  Shall  we  expect  some  transatlantic  military 
giant  to  step  the  ocean  and  crush  us  at  a  blow? 
Never!  All  the  armies  of  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa 
combined,  with  all  the  treasure  of  the  earth  (our 
own  excepted)  in  their  military  chest,  with  a  Bona- 
parte for  a  commander,  could  not  by  force  take  a 
drink  from  the  Ohio  or  make  a  track  on  the  Blue 
Ridge  in  a  trial  of  a  thousand  years. 

At  what  point  then  is  the  approach  of  danger 
to  be  expected?  I  answer,  If  it  ever  reach  us  it  must 
spring  up  among  us;  it  cannot  come  from  abroad. 
If  destruction  be  our  lot  we  must  ourselves  be  its 
author  and  finisher.  As  a  nation  of  freemen  we 
must  live  through  all  time,  or  die  by  suicide! 

24 

(January  27,  1837,  Speech  at  Springfield,  111.— Coffin,  p.  97.) 

We  find  ourselves  in  peaceful  possession  of  the 
fairest  portion  of  the  earth  as  regards  extent  of 
territory,  fertility  of  soil  and  salubrity  of  climate. 
We  find  ourselves  under  the  government  of  a 
system  of  political  institutions  conducing  more 
essentially  to  the  ends  of  civil  and  religious  liberty 


34  Libeffy 

than  any  of  which  the  history  of  former  times  tells 
us.  We  find  ourselves  the  legal  inheritors  of  these 
fundamental  blessings.  We  toiled  not  in  the  ac- 
quirement or  establishment  of  them,  they  are  a 
legacy  bequeathed  to  us  by  a  once  hardy,  brave 
and  patriotic,  but  now  lamented  and  departed,  race 
of  ancestors.  Theirs  was  the  task  (and  nobly  they 
performed  it)  to  possess  themselves,  and  through 
themselves  us,  of  this  goodly  land,  and  to  uprear 
upon  its  hills  and  in  its  valleys  a  political  edifice  of 
liberty  and  equal  rights.  It  is  ours,  only,  to  trans- 
mit these — the  former  unprofaned  by  the  foot  of  an 
invader,  the  latter  undecayed  by  the  lapse  of  time 
and  untorn  by  usurpation — to  the  latest  generation 
that  fate  shall  permit  the  world  to  know.  This  task, 
gratitude  to  our  fathers,  justice  to  ourselves,  duty 
to  posterity  and  love  for  our  species,  in  general,  all 
imperatively  require  us  faithfully  to  perform. 

25 

(January  27,   1837,    Speech  at   Springfield,   111.— Complete   Works 
Vol.  I,  p.  13.) 

Many  great  and  good  men,  sufficiently  qualified 
for  any  task  they  should  undertake,  may  ever  be 
found  whose  ambition  would  aspire  to  nothing  be- 
yond a  seat  in  Congress,  a  gubernatorial  or  a  presi- 
dential chair ;  but  such  belong  not  to  the  family  of 
the  lion,  or  the  tribe  of  the  eagfle.  What!  Think 


Liberty  35 

you  these  places  would  satisfy  an  Alexander,  a 
Caesar,  or  a  Napoleon?    Never! 

Towering  genius  disdains  a  beaten  path.  It  seeks 
regions  hitherto  unexplored.  It  sees  no  distinction 
in  adding  story  to  story  upon  the  monuments  of 
fame  erected  to  the  memory  of  others.  It  denies 
that  it  is  glory  enough  to  serve  under  any  chief.  It 
scorns  to  tread  in  the  footsteps  of  any  predecessor 
however  illustrious.  It  thirsts  and  burns  for  distinc- 
tion; and,  if  possible,  it  will  have  it,  whether  at  the 
expense  of  emancipating  slaves  or  enslaving  free 
men.  Is  it  unreasonable  then  to  expect  that  some 
man  possessed  of  the  loftiest  genius,  coupled  with 
ambition  sufficient  to  push  it  to  its  utmost  stretch, 
will  at  some  time  spring  up  among  us?  And  when 
such  an  one  does,  it  will  require  the  people  to  be 
united  with  each  other,  attached  to  the  government 
and  laws  and  generally  intelligent  to  successfully 
frustrate  his  designs. 

26 

(July  1,  1854,  Fragment— Complete  Works,  Vol.  I,  p.  179.) 

If  A  can  prove,  however  conclusively,  that  he 
may,  of  right,  enslave  B,  why  may  not  B  snatch 
the  same  argument  and  prove  equally  that  he  may 
enslave  A?  You  say  A  is  white  and  B  is  black.  It 
is  color,  then — the  lighter  having  the  right  to  en- 
slave the  darker?  Take  care!  By  this  rule  you  are 


36  Liberty 

to  be  slave  to  the  first  man  you  meet  with  a  fairer 
skin  than  your  own.  You  do  not  mean  color  ex- 
actly? You  mean  the  whites  are  intellectually  the 
superiors  of  the  blacks,  and,  therefore,  have  the 
right  to  enslave  them?  Take  care,  again!  By  this 
rule  you  are  to  be  slave  to  the  first  man  you  meet 
with  an  intellect  superior  to  your  own.  But,  say 
you,  it  is  a  question  of  interest;  and,  if  you  make 
it  your  interest,  you  have  the  right  to  enslave  an- 
other. Very  well!  And,  if  he  can  make  it  his  in- 
terest, he  has  the  right  to  enslave  you! 

27 

(February  11,  1861,  Speech  at  Indianapolis,  Ind.— Van  Buren,  p.  19.) 

I  will  only  say  that  to  the  salvation  of  the  Union 
there  needs  but  one  single  thing,  the  hearts  of  a 
people  like  yours.  When  the  people  rise  in  mass  in 
behalf  of  the  Union  and  the  liberties  of  this  country, 
truly  may  it  be  said,  "The  gates  of  hell  cannot  pre- 
vail against  them."  In  all  trying  positions  in  which 
I  shall  be  placed,  and  doubtless  I  shall  be  placed  in 
many  such,  my  reliance  will  be  upon  you  and  the 
people  of  the  United  States;  and  I  wish  you  to  re- 
member, now  and  forever,  that  it  is  your  business, 
and  not  mine ;  that  if  the  Union  of  these  States  and 
the  liberties  of  this  people  shall  be  lost,  it  is  but  little 
to  any  one  man  of  fifty-two  years  of  age,  but  a  great 
deal  to  the  thirty  millions  of  people  who  inhabit 


Liberty  37 

\ 

these  United  States,  and  to  their  posterity  in  all 
coming  time.  It  is  your  business  to  rise  up  and 
preserve  the  Union  and  liberty  for  yourselves,  and 
not  for  me.  I  appeal  to  you  again  to  constantly 
bear  in  mind  that  not  with  politicians,  not  with 
presidents,  not  with  office-seekers,  but  with  you,  is 
the  question :  Shall  the  Union  and  shall  the  liberties 
of  this  country  be  preserved  to  the  latest  genera- 
tions? 

28 

(November  19,  1858,    Letter    to    H.    Asbury— Herndon,    p.    414.) 

The  fight  must  go  on.  The  cause  of  civil  liberty 
must  not  be  surrendered  at  the  end  of  one  or  even 
one  hundred  defeats. 

29 

(April  4,  1864,  Letter  to  A.  G.  Hodges— Life  by  Barrett,  p.  480.) 

I  am  naturally  anti-slavery.  If  slavery  is  not 
wrong,  nothing  is  wrong.  I  cannot  remember  when 
I  did  not  so  think  and  feel. 

30 

(October    16,     1854,    Speech    at    Peoria,     111.— Howells,    p.     286.) 

Slavery  is  founded  in  the  selfishness  of  man's 
nature — opposition  to  it  in  his  love  of  justice.  These 
principles  are  an  eternal  antagonism.  *  *  * 
Repeal  the  Missouri  Compromise — repeal  all  com- 
promises— repeal  the  Declaration  of  Independence 


38  Liberty 

— repeal  all  past  history — you  still  cannot  repeal 
human  nature.  It  still  will  be  the  abundance  of 
man's  heart  that  slavery  extension  is  wrong,  and 
out  of  the  abundance  of  his  heart  his  mouth  will 
continue  to  speak. 

31 

(August  21,  1858,  Speech  at  Ottawa,  111.— Debates,  p.  74.) 

This  declared  indifference,  but,  as  I  must  think, 
covert  zeal,  for  the  spread  of  slavery,  I  cannot  but 
hate.  I  hate  it  because  of  the  monstrous  injustice 
of  slavery  itself.  I  hate  it  because  it  deprives  our 
Republican  example  of  its  just  influence  in  the 
world,  enables  the  enemies  of  free  institutions,  with 
plausibility,  to  taunt  us  as  hypocrites,  causes  the  real 
friends  of  freedom  to  doubt  our  sincerity,  and  es- 
pecially because  it  forces  so  many  good  men  among 
ourselves  into  an  open  war  with  the  very  funda- 
mental principles  of  civil  liberty,  criticising  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  insisting  that 
there  is  no  right  principle  of  action  but  self-interest. 

32 

(October  16,  1854,  Speech  at  Peoria,  111.— Howells,  p.  293.) 

Is  there  no  danger  to  liberty  itself  in  discarding 
the  earliest  practice  and  first  precept  of  our  ancient 
faith?  In  our  greedy  chase  to  make  profit  of  the 
negro,  let  us  beware  lest  we  "cancel  and  tear  in 
pieces"  even  the  white  man's  charter  of  freedom. 


Liberty  39 

33 

(November  19,   1858,  Letter     to     Dr.     Henry— Herndon,     p.     414.) 

I  am  glad  that  I  made  the  late  race.  It  gave  me 
a  hearing  on  the  great  and  durable  questions  of  the 
age  which  I  could  have  had  in  no  other  way;  and 
though  I  now  sink  out  of  view  and  shall  be  forgot- 
ten, I  believe  I  have  made  some  marks  which  will 
tell  for  the  cause  of  liberty  long  after  I  am  gone. 

34 

(March  17,  1865,  Speech  to  an  Indiana  Regiment— Hapgood,  p.  386.) 

I  have  always  thought  that  all  men  should  be 
free;  but  if  any  should  be  slaves,  it  should  be  first 
those  who  desire  it  for  themselves,  and  secondly 
those  who  desire  it  for  others.  Whenever  I  hear 
any  one  arguing  for  slavery,  I  feel  a  strong  impulse 
to  see  it  tried  on  him  personally. 

35 

(November  21,  1864,  Letter  to  Mrs.  Bixby— Van  Buren,  p.  392.) 

Dear  Madam:  I  have  been  shown  in  the  files  of 
the  War  Department  a  statement  of  the  Adjutant- 
General  of  Massachusetts  that  you  are  the  mother 
of  five  sons  who  have  died  gloriously  on  the  field  of 
battle.  I  feel  how  weak  and  fruitless  must  be  any 
words  of  mine  which  should  attempt  to  beguile  you 
from  the  grief  of  a  loss  so  overwhelming.  But  I 


40  Liberty 

cannot  refrain  from  tendering  to  you  the  consola- 
tion that  may  be  found  in  the  thanks  of  the  Republic 
they  died  to  save.  I  pray  that  our  Heavenly  Father 
may  assuage  the  anguish  of  your  bereavement,  and 
leave  you  only  the  cherished  memory  of  the  loved 
and  lost,  and  the  solemn  pride  that  must  be  yours  to 
have  laid  so  costly  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  free- 
dom. Yours  very  sincerely  and  respectfully, 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

36 

(December  20,   1839,  Speech  at  Springfield,  111.— Hanaford,  p.   52.) 

Many  free  countries  have  lost  their  liberties,  and 
ours  may  lose  hers;  but  if  she  shall,  may  it  be  my 
proudest  plume,  not  that  I  was  the  last  to  desert 
her,  but  that  I  never  deserted  her!  *  *  *  The 
probability  that  we  may  fall  in  the  struggle  ought 
not  to  deter  us  from  the  support  of  a  cause  that  we 
deem  to  be  just.  It  shall  not  deter  me.  *  *  * 
Let  none  falter  who  thinks  he  is  right,  and  we  may 
succeed.  But  if  after  all  we  shall  fail,  be  it  so.  We 
shall  have  the  proud  consolation  of  saying  to  our 
conscience,  and  to  the  departed  shade  of  our  coun- 
try's freedom,  that  the  course  approved  by  our 
judgments  and  adored  by  our  hearts,  in  disaster,  in 
chains,  in  torture,  in  death,  we  never  faltered  in  de- 
fending. 


Liberty  41 

37 

(February  22,  1842,    Speech  at  Springfield,   111.— Complete  Works. 
Vol.  I,  p.  63.) 

This  is  the  one  hundred  and  tenth  anniversary 
of  the  birthday  of  Washington ;  we  are  met  to  cele- 
brate this  day.  Washington  is  the  mightiest  name 
of  earth — long  since  mightiest  in  the  cause  of  civil 
liberty,  still  mightiest  in  moral  reformation.  On 
that  name  no  eulogy  is  expected.  It  cannot  be.  To 
add  brightness  to  the  sun  or  glory  to  the  name  of 
Washington  is  alike  impossible.  Let  none  attempt 
it.  In  solemn  awe  pronounce  the  name,  and  in  its 
naked  deathless  splendor  leave  it  shining  on. 


GOVEBNMENT  AND  THE  PEOPLE. 
38 

(July  16,  1852,   Speech  at  Springfield,  111.— Complete  Wcrks,  Vol. 
I,  p.  171.) 

A  free  people  in  times  of  peace  and  quiet — when 
pressed  by  no  common  danger — naturally  divide 
into  parties.  At  such  times  the  man  who  is  of 
neither  party  is  not,  cannot  be  of  any  consequence. 

39 

(December   3,   1864,    Interview— Hapgood,    p.    385.) 

You  say  your  husband  is  a  religious  man;  tell 
him  when  you  meet  him  that  I  say  I  am  not  much 
of  a  judge  of  religion,  but  that,  in  my  opinion,  the 
religion  that  sets  men  to  rebel  and  fight  against 
their  government,  because,  as  they  think,  that  gov- 
ernment does  not  sufficiently  help  some  men  to  eat 
-  their  bread  in  the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces,  is  not 
the  sort  of  religion  upon  which  people  can  get  to 
heaven. 

40 

(March  4,  1861,   First  Inaugural— Raymond,  p.  168.) 

The  chief  magistrate  derives  all  his  authority  from 
the  people,  and  they  have  conferred  none  upon  him 
to  fix  terms  for  the  separation  of  the  States.  The 

43 


44  Government  and  the  People 

people  themselves  can  do  this  also  if  they  choose; 
but  the  executive,  as  such,  has  nothing  to  do  with 
it.  His  duty  is  to  administer  the  present  govern- 
ment as  it  came  to  his  hands  and  to  transmit  it  un- 
impaired by  him  to  his  successor. 

41 

(August   26,    1863,    Letter  to  James  C.  Conkling— Herndon,  p.  552.) 

I  freely  acknowledge  myself  the  servant  of  the 
people,  according  to  the  bond  of  service  —  the 
United  States  Constitution — and  that,  as  such,  I  am 
responsible  to  them. 

42 

(June  17,  1858,   Speech  at  Springfield,   111.— Debates,  p.  1.) 

"A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand."  I 
believe  this  government  cannot  endure  permanently 
half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union 
to  be  dissolved — I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall 
— but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will 
become  all  one  thing  or  the  other. 

43 

(December  10,  1856,  Speech  at  Chicago,  111. — Complete  Works,  Vol. 
I,  p.  225.) 

Our  government  rests  in  public  opinion.  Who- 
ever can  change  public  opinion  can  change  the  gov- 
ernment, practically,  just  so  much.  Public  opinion, 
on  any  subject,  always  has  a  "central  idea"  from 
which  all  its  minor  thoughts  radiate.  That  "central 


Government  and  the  People.  45 

idea"  in  our  political  public  opinion  at  the  begin- 
ning has  been,  and  until  recently  has  continued  to 
be,  the  equality  of  men. 

44 

(March  5,  1860,  Speech  at  Hartford,  Conn.— Complete  Works,  Vol. 
I,  p.  613.) 

Public  opinion  settles  every  question  here.  Any 
policy  to  be  permanent  must  have  public  opinion 
at  the  bottom — something  in  accordance  with  the 
philosophy  of  the  human  mind  as  it  is.  The  prop- 
erty basis  will  have  its  weight.  The  love  of  prop- 
erty and  a  consciousness  of  right  and  wrong  have 
conflicting  places  in  our  organization,  which  often 
make  a  man's  course  seem  crooked,  his  conduct  a 
riddle. 

45 

(February  9,  1865,  Reply  to  Committee  of  Congress  reporting  re- 
sult of  Electoral  Count— Coffin,  p.  487.) 

With  deep  gratitude  to  my  countrymen  for  this 
mark  of  their  confidence;  with  distrust  of  my  own 
ability  to  perform  the  duty  required  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances,  and  now  rendered  doubly 
difficult  by  exciting  national  perils ;  yet  with  a  firm 
reliance  on  the  strength  of  our  free  government 
and  the  eventual  loyalty  of  the  people  to  the  just 
principles  upon  which  it  is  founded,  and  above  all 
with  an  unshaken  faith  in  the  Supreme  Ruler  of 
nations,  I  accept  the  trust. 


46  Government  and  the  People 

46 

(December  6,  1864,  Annual  Message— Raymond,  p.  633.) 

In  a  great  national  crisis  like  ours,  unanimity  of 
action  among  those  seeking  a  common  end  is  very 
desirable — almost  indispensable;  and  yet  no  ap- 
proach to  such  unanimity  is  attainable  unless  some 
deference  shall  be  paid  to  the  will  of  the  majority, 
simply  because  it  is  the  will  of  the  majority. 

47 

(March  4,  1861,   First  Inaugural— Raymond,  p.  167.) 

A  majority  held  in  restraint  by  constitutional 
checks  and  limitations,  and  always  changing  easily, 
with  deliberate  changes  of  popular  opinions  and 
sentiments,  is  the  only  true  sovereign  of  a  free  peo- 
ple. *  *  *  The  rule  of  a  minority  as  a  perma- 
nent arrangement  is  wholly  inadmissible;  so  that 
rejecting  the  majority  principle,  anarchy  or  despot- 
ism in  some  form  is  all  that  is  left. 

48 

(February  14,  1861,  Speech  at  Steubenville,  Ohio— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I.  p.  677.) 

If  the  majority  should  not  rule,  who  would  be  the 
judge?  Where  is  such  a  judge  to  be  found?  We 
should  all  be  bound  by  the  majority  of  the  Ameri- 
can people;  if  not,  then  the  minority  must  control. 
Would  that  be  right?  Would  it  be  just  or  gener- 


Government  and  the  People  47 

ous?  Assuredly  not.  I  reiterate  that  the  majority 
should  rule.  If  I  adopt  a  wrong  policy,  the  oppor- 
tunity for  condemnation  will  occur  in  four  years' 
time.  Then  I  can  be  turned  out,  and  a  better  man 
with  better  views  put  in  my  place. 

49 

(September  30,  1859,  Speech  at  Milwaukee,  Wis.— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I.  p.  577.) 

Farmers  being  the  most  numerous  class,  it  fol- 
lows that  their  interest  is  the  largest  interest.  It 
also  follows  that  that  interest  is  most  worthy  of  all 
to  be  cherished  and  cultivated — that  if  there  be  in- 
evitable conflict  between  that  interest  and  any  other, 
that  other  should  yield. 

50 

(May  17,  1859,  Letter  to  Dr.  Theodore  Canisius  concerning  law  of 
naturalization,  etc.— Howells,  p.  85.) 

As  I  understand  the  spirit  of  our  institutions,  it 
is  designed  to  promote  the  elevation  of  men.  I  am 
therefore  hostile  to  anything  that  tends  to  their 
debasement.  It  is  well  known  that  I  deplore  the 
oppressed  condition  of  the  blacks,  and  it  would, 
therefore,  be  very  inconsistent  for  me  to  look  with 
approval  upon  any  measure  that  infringes  upon  the 
inalienable  rights  of  white  men  whether  or  not  they 
are  born  in  another  land  or  speak  a  different  lan- 
guage from  our  own.  In  respect  to  a  fusion,  I  am 
in  favor  of  it  whenever  it  can  be  effected  on  Re- 


48  Government  and  the  People 

publican  principles;  but  upon  no  other  condition. 
A  fusion  upon  any  other  platform  would  be  as  in- 
sane as  unprincipled.  It  would  thereby  lose  the 
whole  North  while  the  common  enemy  would  still 
have  the  support  of  the  South.  The  question  in 
relation  to  men  is  different.  There  are  good  and 
patriotic  men  and  able  statesmen  in  the  South  whom 
I  would  willingly  support  if  they  would  place  them- 
selves on  Republican  ground;  but  I  shall  oppose 
the  lowering  of  the  Republican  standard  even  by  a 
hair's  breadth. 

51 

(July  10,  1858,  Speech  at  Chicago,  111.— Debates,  p.  19.) 

I  have  said  many  times  *  *  *  that  no  man 
believed  more  than  I  in  the  principle  of  self-govern- 
ment; that  it  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all  my  ideas  of  just 
government  from  beginning  to  end.  *  *  *  I 
deny  that  any  man  has  ever  gone  ahead  of  me  in 
his  devotion  to  the  principle,  whatever  he  may  have 
done  in  efficiency  in  advocating  it. 

52 

(October  16,  1854,  Speech  at  Peoria,  111.— Howells,  p.  279.) 

Well  I  doubt  not  that  the  people  of  Nebraska  are 
and  will  continue  to  be  as  good  as  the  average  of 
people  elsewhere.  I  do  not  say  the  contrary.  What 
I  do  say  is  that  no  man  is  good  enough  to  govern 


Government  and  the  People  49 

another  man  without  that  other's  consent  I  say 
this  is  the  leading  principle,  the  sheet-anchor  of 
American  Republicanism.  Our  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence says :  "We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self- 
evident:  That  all  men  are  created  equal;  that  they 
are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalien- 
able rights;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness.  That  to  secure  these  rights 
governments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriving 
their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed/' 
I  have  quoted  so  much  at  this  time  merely  to  show 
that  according  to  our  ancient  faith,  the  just  powers 
of  governments  are  derived  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed.  Now  the  relation  of  master  and  slave  is 
pro  tanto  a  total  violation  of  this  principle.  The 
master  not  only  governs  the  slave  without  his  con- 
sent, but  he  governs  him  by  a  set  of  rules  altogether 
different  from  those  which  he  prescribes  for  himself. 
Allow  all  the  governed  an  equal  voice  in  the  gov- 
ernment, and  that,  and  that  only,  is  self-government. 

53 

(October  4,   1854,  Speech  at  Springfield,  111.— Raymond,  p.   44.) 

My  distinguished  friend  says  it  is  an  insult  to  the 
emigrants  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  to  suppose  that 
they  are  not  able  to  govern  themselves.  We  must 
not  slur  over  an  argument  of  this  kind  because  it 
happens  to  tickle  the  ear.  It  must  be  met  arid  an- 


50  Government  and  the  People 

swered.  I  admit  that  the  emigrant  to  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  is  competent  to  govern  himself,  but  I 
deny  his  right  to  govern  any  other  person  without 
that  person's  consent. 

54 

(October  1,  1854,  Speech  at  Springfield,  111.-- Coffin,  p.  145.) 

No  man  is  good  enough  to  govern  another  man 
without  that  other's  consent.  When  the  white  man 
governs  himself  that  is  self-government;  but  when 
he  governs  himself  and  also  governs  another  man — 
then  that  is  more  than  self-government — that  is  des- 
potism. Our  reliance  is  in  the  love  of  liberty  which 
God  has  planted  in  us;  our  defense  is  in  the  spirit 
which  prizes  liberty  as  the  heritage  of  all  men  in  all 
lands,  everywhere.  Those  who  deny  freedom  to 
others  deserve  it  not  for  themselves,  and  under  a 
just  God  cannot  long  retain  it. 

55 

(July  10,  1858,  Speech  at  Chicago,  111.— Debates,  p.  19.) 

I  believe  each  individual  is  naturally  entitled  to 
do  as  he  pleases  with  himself  and  the  fruit  of  his 
labor,  so  far  as  it  in  no  wise  interferes  with  any 
other  man's  rights;  that  each  community,  as  a  State, 
has  a  right  to  do  exactly  as  it  pleases  with  all  the 
concerns  within  that  State  that  interfere  with  the 
right  of  no  other  State;  and  that  the  general  gov- 


Government  and  the  People  51 

ernment,  upon  principle,  has  no  right  to  interfere 
with  anything  other  than  that  general  class  of  things 
that  does  concern  the  whole. 

56 

(October  1,  1858,  Notes  for  Speeches— Complete  Works,  Vol.  I,  p. 
425.) 

Well,  I  too  believe  in  self-government  as  I  under- 
stand it ;  but  I  do  not  understand  that  the  privilege 
one  man  takes  of  making  a  slave  of  another,  or  hold- 
ing him  as  such,  is  any  part  of  "self-government." 
To  call  it  so  is,  to  my  mind,  simply  absurd  and  ridic- 
ulous. I  am  for  the  people  of  the  whole  nation  doing 
just  as  they  please  in  all  matters  which  concern  the 
whole  nation;  for  those  of  each  part  doing  just  as 
they  choose  in  all  matters  which  concern  no  other 
part,  and  for  each  individual  doing  just  as  he 
chooses  in  all  matters  which  concern  nobody  else. 
This  is  the  principle. 

57 

(July  1,  1854,  Fragment— Complete  Works,   Vol.   I,  p.  178.) 

Most  governments  have  been  based,  practically, 
on  the  denial  of  the  equal  rights  of  men.  Ours  be- 
gan by  affirming  those  rights.  They  said,  "some 
men  are  too  ignorant  and  vicious  to  share  in  gov- 
ernment." "Possibly  so/'  said  we,  "and  by  your 
system  you  would  always  keep  them  ignorant  and 
vicious.  We  propose  to  give  all  a  chance;  and  we 


52  Government  and  the  People 

expect  the  weak  to  grow  stronger,  the  ignorant 
wiser  and  al'l  better  and  happier  together." 

58 

(October  16,  1854,   Speech  at  Peoria,  111.— Howells,  p.  284.) 

Finally  I  insist  that  if  there  is  anything  that  is 
the  duty  of  the  whole  people  to  never  intrust  to 
hands  but  their  own  that  thing  is  the  preservation 
and  perpetuity  of  their  own  liberties  and  institu- 
tions. 

59 

(September  16,  1859,  Speech  at  Columbus,  O.— Debates,  p.  242.) 

I  think  a  definition  of  genuine  popular  sovereign- 
ty, in  the  abstract,  would  be  about  this:  That  each 
man  shall  do  precisely  as  he  pleases  with  himself 
and  with  all  those  things  which  exclusively  concern 
him.  Applied  to  government,  this  principle  would 
be,  that  a  general  government  shall  do  all  those 
things  which  pertain  to  it,  and  all  the  local  govern- 
ments shall  do  precisely  as  they  please  in  respect  to 
those  matters  which  exclusively  concern  them.  I 
understand  that  this  government  of  the  United 
States,  under  which  we  live,  is  based  upon  this  prin- 
ciple; and  I  am  misunderstood  if  it  is  supposed  that 
I  have  any  war  to  make  upon  that  principle. 


Government  and  the  People  53 

60 

(August  21,  1858,  Speech  at  Ottawa,  111.— Debates,  p.  76.) 

The  great  variety  of  the  local  institutions  in  the 
States,  springing  from  differences  in  the  soil,  differ- 
ences in  the  face  of  the  country,  and  in  the  climate, 
are  bonds  of  union.  They  do  not  make  "a  house 
divided  against  itself,"  but  they  make  a  house 
united.  If  they  produce  in  one  section  of  the  coun- 
try what  is  called  for  by  the  wants  of  another  sec- 
tion, and  this  other  section  can  supply  the  wants  of 
the  first,  they  are  not  matters  of  discord  but  bonds 
of  union,  true  bonds  of  union. 

61 

(July   5,    1861,    Annual   Message— Raymond,   p.    186.) 

This  relative  matter  of  National  power  and  State 
rights,  as  a  principle,  is  no  other  than  the  principle 
of  generality  and  locality.  Whatever  concerns  the 
whole  should  be  confided  to  the  whole — to  the 
general  government;  while  whatever  concerns  only 
the  State  should  be  left  exclusively  to  the  State. 

62 

(July  1,  1854,  Fragment— Complete  Works,  Vol.  I,  p.  180.) 

The  legitimate  object  of  government  is  to  do  for 
a  community  of  people  whatever  they  need  to  have 
done,  but  cannot  do  at  all,  or  cannot  so  well  do  for 
themselves,  in  their  separate  and  individual  capaci- 


54  Government  and  the  People 

ties.  In  all  that  the  people  can  individually  do  as 
well  for  themselves,  government  ought  not  to  in- 
terfere. The  desirable  things  which  the  individuals 
of  a  people  cannot  do,  or  cannot  well  do  for  them- 
selves fall  into  two  classes:  those  which  have  rela- 
tion to  wrongs,  and  those  which  have  not.  Each 
of  those  branch  off  into  an  infinite  variety  of  sub- 
divisions. 

The  first — that  in  relation  to  wrongs — embraces 
all  crimes,  misdemeanors,  and  nonperformance  of 
contracts.  The  other  embraces  all  which,  in  its 
nature,  and  without  wrong,  requires  combined  ac- 
tion, as  public  roads  and  highways,  public  schools, 
charities,  pauperism,  orphanage,  estates  of  the  de- 
ceased and  the  machinery  of  government  itself. 

From  this  it  appears  that  if  all  men  were  just, 
there  still  would  be  some,  though  not  so  much,  need 
of  government. 

63 

(February  11,  1861,  Speech  at  Indianapolis,  Ind.— Hanaford,  p.  68.) 

By  the  way,  in  what  consists  the  special  sacred- 
ness  of  a  State?  I  speak  not  of  the  position  as- 
signed to  a  State  in  the  Union  by  the  Constitution, 
for  that  by  the  bond  we  all  recognize.  That  posi- 
tion, however,  a  State  cannot  carry  out  of  the  Union 
with  it.  I  speak  of  that  assumed  primary  right  of 
a  State  to  rule  all  which  is  less  than  itself  and  ruin 


Government  and  the  People  55 

all  that  which  is  larger  than  itself.  If  a  State  and 
a  county,  in  a  given  case,  should  be  equal  in  extent 
of  territory,  and  equal  in  number  of  inhabitants,  in 
what,  as  a  matter  of  principle,  is  the  State  better 
than  the  county?  Would  an  exchange  of  names  be 
an  exchange  of  rights  upon  principle?  On  what 
rightful  principle  may  a  State,  being  not  more  than 
one-fiftieth  part  of  the  nation  in  soil  and  population, 
break  up  the  nation  and  then  coerce  a  proportion- 
ally larger  subdivision  of  itself  in  the  most  arbi- 
trary way?  What  mysterious  right  to  play  tyrant  is 
conferred  on  a  district  of  country  with  its  people  by 
merely  calling  it  a  State? 

64 

(July  5,  1861,  First  Annual  Message— Raymond,  p.  194.) 

The  States  have  their  status  in  the  Union,  and 
they  have  no  other  legal  status.  If  they  break  from 
this  they  can  only  do  so  against  law  and  by  revolu- 
tion. The  Union,  and  not  themselves  separately,  pro- 
cured their  independence  and  their  liberty.  By  con- 
quest or  purchase  the  Union  gave  each  of  them 
whatever  of  independence  or  liberty  it  has.  The 
Union  is  older  than  any  of  the  States,  and  in  fact  it 
created  them  as  States.  Originally  some  dependent 
colonies  made  the  Union,  and  in  turn  the  Union 
threw  off  their  old  dependence  for  them  and  made' 
them  States  such  as  they  are.  Not  one  of  them  ever 
had  a  State  Constitution  independent  of  the  Union. 


56  Government  and  the  People 

65 

(July  5,  1861,  First  Annual  Message— Raymond,   p.  196. 

It  may  be  affirmed,  without  extravagance,  that  the 
free  institutions  we  enjoy  have  developed  the  pow- 
ers and  improved  the  condition  of  our  whole  people 
beyond  any  example  in  the  world.  Of  this  we  now 
have  a  striking  and  an  impressive  illustration.  So 
large  an  army  as  the  government  has  now  on  foot 
was  never  before  known  without  a  soldier  in  it  but 
who  had  taken  his  place  there  of  his  own  free  choice. 
But  more  than  this,  there  are  many  single  regiments 
whose  members,  one  and  another,  possess  full  prac- 
tical knowledge  of  all  the  arts  and  sciences,  pro- 
fessions and  whatever  else,  whether  useful  or  ele- 
gant, is  known  in  the  world;  and  there  is  scarcely 
one  from  which  there  could  not  be  selected  a  presi- 
dent, a  cabinet,  a  congress  and  perhaps  a  court 
abundantly  competent  to  administer  the  govern- 
ment itself. 

66 

(December  3,  1861,  Annual  Message— Van  Buren,  p.  120.) 

From  the  first  taking  of  our  national)  census  to 
the  last  are  seventy  years,  and  we  find  our  popula- 
tion at  the  end  of  the  period  eight  times  as  great 
as  it  was  at  the  beginning.  The  increase  of  those 
other  things  that  men  deem  desirable  has  been  even 
greater.  We  thus  have  at  one  view  what  the  popu- 


Government  and  the  People  57 

lar  principles  applied  to  government  through  the 
machinery  of  the  States  and  the  Union  has  produced 
in  a  given  time  and  what  if  firmly  maintained  it 
promises  for  the  future.  There  are  already  among 
us  those  who,  if  the  Union  be  preserved,  will  live 
to  see  it  contain  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions. 

The  struggle  of  to-day  is  not  altogether  for  to- 
day— it  is  for  the  vast  future  also.  With  a  reliance 
on  Providence  all  the  more  firm  and  earnest  let  us 
proceed  in  the  great  task  which  events  have  de- 
volved upon  us. 

67 

(April  6,  1859,  Letter  in  reply  to  H.  L.  Pierce  and  other  Repub- 
licans of  Boston  inviting  Mr.  Lincoln  to  attend  a  celebration 
of  Jefferson's  birthday— The  Republic,  Irelan,  Vol.  XVI,  p. 
263.) 

Gentlemen :  Your  kind  note  inviting  me  to  attend 
a  festival  in  Boston,  on  the  28th  instant,  in  honor 
of  the  birthday  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  was  duly  re- 
ceived. My  engagements  are  such  that  I  cannot 
attend. 

Bearing  in  mind  that  about  seventy  years  ago  two 
great  political  parties  were  first  formed  in  this  coun- 
try, that  Thomas  Jefferson  was  the  head  of  one  of 
them  and  Boston  the  headquarters  of  the  other,  it 
is  both  curious  and  interesting  that  those  supposed 
to  descend  politically  from  the  party  opposed  to 
Jefferson  should  now  be  celebrating  his  birthday  in 


58  Government  and  the  People 

their  own  original  seat  of  empire,  while  those  claim- 
ing political  descent  from  him  have  nearly  ceased  to 
breathe  his  name  everywhere. 

Remembering,  too,  that  the  Jefferson  party  was 
formed  upon  its  supposed  superior  devotion  to  the 
personal  rights  of  men,  holding  the  rights  of  prop- 
erty to  be  secondary  only,  and  greatly  inferior,  and 
assuming  that  the  so-called  Democracy  of  to-day 
are  the  Jefferson,  and  their  opponents  the  anti-Jef- 
ferson party,  it  will  be  equally  interesting  to  note 
how  completely  the  two  have  changed  hands  as  to 
the  principle  upon  which  they  were  originally  sup- 
posed to  be  divided.  The  Democracy  of  to-day 
hold  the  liberty  of  one  man  to  be  absolutely  nothing 
when  in  conflict  with  another  man's  right  of  prop- 
erty. Republicans,  on  the  contrary,  are  for  both 
the  man  and  the  dollar,  but  in  case  of  conflict  the 
man  before  the  dollar. 

I  remember  being  once  much  amused  at  seeing 
two  partially  intoxicated  men  engage  in  a  fight  with 
their  great-coats  on,  which  fight,  after  a  long  and 
rather  harmless  contest,  ended  in  each  having 
fought  himself  out  of  his  own  coat  and  into  that 
of  the  other.  If  the  two  leading  parties  of  this  day 
are  really  identical  with  the  two  in  the  days  of 
Jefferson  and  Adams,  they  have  performed  the  same 
feat  as  the  two  drunken  men. 

But  soberly,  it  is  now  no  child's  play  to  save  the 


Government  and  the  People  59 

principles  of  Jefferson  from  total  overthrow  in  this 
nation.  One  would  state  with  great  confidence  that 
he  could  convince  any  sane  child  that  the  simpler 
propositions  of  Euclid  are  true;  but  nevertheless 
he  would  fail  utterly  with  one  who  should  deny  the 
definitions  and  axioms.  The  principles  of  Jefferson 
are  the  definitions  and  axioms  of  free  society.  And 
yet  they  are  denied  and  evaded,  with  no  small  show 
of  success.  One  dashingly  calls  them  "glittering 
generalities."  Another  bluntly  calls  them  "self-evi- 
dent lies."  And  others  insidiously  argue  that  they 
apply  to  "superior  races."  These  expressions,  dif- 
fering in  form,  are  identical  in  object  and  effect — 
the  supplanting  the  principles  of  free  government, 
and  restoring  those  of  classification,  caste,  and  legit- 
imacy. They  would  delight  a  convocation  of 
crowned  heads  plotting  against  the  people.  They 
are  the  vanguard,  the  miners  and  sappers  of  re- 
turning despotism.  We  must  repulse  them,  or  they 
will  subjugate  us.  This  is  a  world  of  compensation, 
and  he  who  would  be  no  slave  must  consent  to  have 
no  slave.  Those  who  deny  freedom  to  others  de- 
serve it  not  for  themselves,  and,  under  a  just  God, 
cannot  long  retain  it.  All  honor  to  Jefferson — to 
the  man  who,  in  the  concrete  pressure  of  a  struggle 
for  national  independence  by  a  single  people,  had 
the  coolness,  forecast  and  capacity  to  introduce  into 
a  merely  revolutionary  document  an  abstract  truth, 


60  Government  and  the  People 

applicable  to  all  men  and  all  times,  and  so  to  em- 
balm it  there  that  to-day,  and  in  all  coming  days,  it 
shall  be  a  rebuke  and  a  stumbling-block  to  the  very 
harbingers  of  reappearing  tyranny  and  oppression. 
Your  obedient  servant.  A.  Lincoln. 

68 

(November  19,  1863,  Address  at  the  Dedication  of  the  Cemetery  at 
Gettysburg— Raymond,  p.  412.) 

Four  score  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers 
brought  forth  upon  this  continent  a  new  nation, 
conceived  in  liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  propo- 
sition that  all  men  are  created  free  and  equal. 

Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing 
whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived  and 
so  dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We  are  met  on  a 
great  battlefield  of  that  war.  We  have  come  to 
dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a  final  resting- 
place  for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that 
nation  might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper 
that  we  should  do  this. 

But  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate — we 
cannot  consecrate,  we  cannot  hallow  this  ground. 
The  brave  men  living  and  dead  who  struggled  here 
have,  consecrated  it  far  above  our  power  to  add  or 
detract.  The  world  will  little  note,  nor  long  re- 
member, what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget 
what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us  the  living,  rather, 
to  be  dedicated  here  to  the  unfinished  work  which 


Government  and  the  People  61 

they  who  fought  here  have  thus  far  so  nobly  ad- 
vanced. It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to 
the  great  task  remaining  before  us — that  from  these 
honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  that 
cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full  measure  of 
devotion — that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these 
dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain — that  this  nation, 
under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom — and 
that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and 
for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. 

69 

(July  5,  1861,  Annual  Message— Barrett,  p.  266.) 

I  desire  to  preserve  this  government  that  it  may 
be  administered  for  all,  as  it  was  administered  by 
the  men  who  made  it.  On  the  side  of  the  Union 
it  is  a  struggle  to  maintain  in  the  world  that  form 
and  substance  of  government  whose  leading  object 
is  to  elevate  the  condition  of  men,  lift  artificial  bur- 
dens from  all  shoulders  and  clear  the  paths  of  laud- 
aWe  pursuits  for  all;  to  afford  all  an  unfettered 
start  and  a  fair  chance  in  the  race  of  life.  This  is 
the  leading  object  of  the  government  for  which  we 
contend. 

70 

(August  22,  1864,  Speech  to  an  Ohio  Regiment— Raymond,  p.  607.) 

I  happen  temporarily  to  occupy  this  big  White 
House.  I  am  a  living  witness  that  any  one  of  your 


62  Government  and  the  People 

children  may  look  to  come  here  as  my  father's  child 
has. 

It  is  in  order  that  each  one  of  you  may  have 
through  this  free  government,  which  we  have  en- 
joyed, an  open  field  and  a  fair  chance  for  your  in- 
dustry, enterprise  and  intelligence,  that  you  all  may 
have  equal  privileges  in  the  race  of  life,  with  all  its 
desirable  human  aspirations,  it  is  for  this  the  strug- 
gle should  be  maintained  that  we  may  not  lose  our 
birthrights. 

71 

(July  26,  1862,  Letter  to  Reverdy  Johnson— Complete  Works,  Vol. 
II,  p.  215.) 

I  am  a  patient  man — always  willing  to  forgive 
on  the  Christian  terms  of  repentance,  and  also  to 
give  ample  time  for  repentance.  Still  I  must  save 
this  government,  if  possible.  What  I  cannot  do,  of 
course  I  will  not  do ;  but  it  may  as  well  be  under- 
stood, once  for  all,  that  I  shall  not  surrender  this 
game  leaving  any  available  card  unplayed. 

72 

(August  15,  1863,  Opinion  of  the  Draft— Complete  Works,  Vol.  II, 
p.  391.) 

Shall  we  shrink  from  the  necessary  means  to 
maintain  our  free  government,  which  our  grand- 
fathers employed  to  establish  it  and  our  own  fathers 
have  already  employed  once  to  maintain  it?  Are 


Government  and  the  People  63 

we  degenerate?    Has  the  manhood  of  our  race  run 
out? 

73 

(June   20,    1848,    Speecli,   House  of  Representatives,   111.— Howells, 
p.  161.) 

The  true  rulle,  in  determining  to  embrace  or  re- 
ject anything,  is  not  whether  it  has  any  evil  in  it, 
but  whether  it  has  more  of  evil  than  of  good.  There 
are  few  things  wholly  evil  or  wholly  good.  Almost 
everything,  especially  of  government  policy,  is  an 
inseparable  compound  of  the  two;  so  that  our  best 
judgment  of  the  preponderance  between  them  is 
continually  demanded. 

74 

(May  30,  1863,  Reply  to  Members  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian    Church— Complete    Works,    Vol.    II,    p.    342.) 

As  a  pilot  I  have  used  my  best  exertions  to  keep 
afloat  our  Ship  of  State,  and  shall  be  glad  to  resign 
my  trust  at  the  appointed  time  to  another  pilot  more 
skillful  and  successful  than  I  may  prove.  In  every 
case  and  at  all  hazards  the  government  must  be  per- 
petuated. 

75 

(February  18,  1861,  Speech  to  Legislature  of  New  York— Van  Bu- 
ren,  p.  34.) 

If  we  have  patience,  if  we  restrain  ourselves,  if 
we  allow  ourselves  not  to  run  off  in  a  passion,  I 
still  have  confidence  that  the  Almighty,  the  Maker 


64  Government  and  the  People 

of  the  universe,  will,  through  the  instrumentality 
of  this  great  and  intelligent  people,  bring  us  through 
this  as  he  has  through  all  the  other  difficulties  of 
our  country. 

76 

(September  17,    1859,   Speech   at  Cincinnati,    O.— Debates,   p.   267.) 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  this  general  govern- 
ment is  charged  with  the  duty  of  redressing  or  pre- 
venting all  the  wrongs  in  the  world;  but  I  do  think 
that  it  is  charged  with  preventing  and  redressing1  all 
wrongs  which  are  wrongs  to  itself. 

77 

(October   7,   1858,  Speech  at  Galesburg,    111.— Debates,   p.    179.) 

I  have  never  manifested  any  impatience  with  the 
necessities  that  spring  from  the  actual  presence  of 
black  people  amongst  us  and  the  actual  existence  of 
slavery  amongst  us  where  it  does  already  exist,  but 
I  have  insisted  that,  in  legislating  for  new  countries 
where  it  does  not  exist,  there  is  no  just  rule  other 
than  that  of  moral  and  abstract  right.  With  refer- 
ence to  those  new  countries,  those  maxims  as  to  the 
right  of  a  people  to  "life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness"  were  the  just  rules  to  be  constantly  re- 
ferred to.  There  is  no  misunderstanding  this  ex- 
cept by  men  interested  to  misunderstand  it. 


Government  and  the  People  65 

78 

(January  12,  1848,  Speech  in  Congress— Barrett,  p.  84.) 

Any  people,  anywhere,  being  inclined  and  having 
the  power,  have  the  right  to  rise  up  and  shake  off 
the  existing  government  and  form  a  new  one  that 
suits  them  better.  This  is  a  most  valuable,  a  most 
sacred  right — a  right  which  we  hope  and  believe  is 
to  liberate  the  world.  Nor  is  this  right  confined  to 
cases  in  which  the  whole  people  of  an  existing  gov- 
ernment may  choose  to  exercise  it.  Any  portion  of 
such  a  people  that  can,  may  revolutionize  and  make 
their  own  of  so  much  of  the  territory  as  they  in- 
habit. More  than  this,  a  majority  of  any  portion  of 
such  a  people  may  revolutionize  putting  down  a 
minority,  intermingled  with  or  near  about  them 
who  may  oppose  their  movement.  Such  minority 
was  precisely  the  case  of  the  tories  of  our  own  revo- 
lution. It  is  a  quality  of  revolutions  not  to  go  by 
old  lines  or  old  laws,  but  break  up  both  and  make 
new  ones. 

79 

(March  4,  1861,  First  Inaugural— Raymond,  p.  168.) 

This  country  with  its  institutions  belongs  to  the 
people  who  inhabit  it.  Whenever  they  shall  grow 
weary  of  the  existing  government,  they  can  exer- 
cise their  constitutional  right  of  amending  it  or  their 
revolutionary  right  to  dismember  and  overthrow  it. 


66  Government  and  the  People 

so 

(June  13,  1863,  Letter  to   Corning— Barrett,   p.   632.) 

The  man  who  stands  by  and  says  nothing  when 
the  peril  of  his  government  is  discussed  cannot  be 
misunderstood.  If  not  hindered,  he  is  sure  to  help 
the  enemy;  much  more  if  he  talks  ambiguously — 
talks  for  his  country  with  "buts  and  ifs  and  ands." 

81 

(July  28,  1862,  Letter  to  Durant— Barrett,  p.  569.) 

I  am  in  no  boastful1  mood.  I  shall  not  do  more 
than  I  can,  but  I  shall  do  all  I  can  to  save  the  gov- 
ernment, which  is  my  sworn  duty  as  well  as  my  per- 
sonal inclination.  I  shall  do  nothing  in  malice. 
What  I  deal  with  is  too  vast  for  malicious  dealing. 

82 

(March  4,  1861,   First  Inaugural— Raymond,  p.   168.) 
[Speaking  of  amending  the  Constitution.] 

While  I  make  no  recommendation  of  amend- 
ment, I  fully  recognize  the  full  authority  of  the  peo- 
ple over  the  whole  subject,  to  be  exercised  in  either 
of  the  modes  prescribed  in  the  instrument  itself;  and 
I  should  under  existing  circumstances  favor,  rather 
than  oppose,  a  fair  opportunity  being  afforded  the 
people  to  act  upon  it.  I  will  venture  to  add,  that, 
to  me,  the  convention  mode  seems  preferable,  in 
that  it  allows  amendments  to  originate  with  the 


Government  and  the  People  67 

people  themselves,  instead  of  only  permitting  them 
to  take  or  reject  propositions  originated  by  others 
not  especially  chosen  for  the  purpose,  and  which 
might  not  be  precisely  such  as  they  would  wish 
either  to  accept  or  refuse. 

83 

(September  30,  1859,  Speech  at  Milwaukee,  Wis.— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  584.) 

It  is  said  that  an  Eastern  monarch  once  charged 
his  wise  men  to  invent  him  a  sentence  to  be  ever 
in  view,  and  which  should  be  true  and  appropriate 
in  all  times  and  situations.  They  presented  him  the 
words,  "And  this,  too,  shall  pass  away."  How  much 
it  expresses!  How  chastening  in  the  hour  of  pride! 
How  consoling  in  the  depths  of  affliction!  ''And 
this,  too,  shall  pass  away."  And  yet,  let  us  hope, 
it  is  not  quite  true.  Let  us  hope,  rather,  that  by 
the  best  cultivation  of  the  physical  world  beneath 
and  around  us,  and  the  intellectual  and  moral  world 
within  us,  we  shall  secure  an  individual,  social,  and 
political  prosperity  and  happiness,  whose  course 
shall  be  onward  and  upward,  and  which,  while  the 
earth  endures,  shall  not  pass  away. 


THE  CONSTITUTION  AND  THE  LAW. 
84 

(February  27,  1860,  Spe«ch  at  Cooper  Institute,  New  York— How- 
ells,  p.  199.) 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  we  are  bound  to  follow  im- 
plicitly in  whatever  our  fathers  did.  To  do  so  would 
be  to  discard  all  the  lights  of  current  experience — 
to  reject  all  progress,  all  improvement.  What  I 
do  say  is  that  if  we  would  supplant  the  opinions  and 
policy  of  our  fathers  in  any  case,  we  should  do  so 
upon  evidence  so  conclusive,  and  argument  so  clear, 
that  even  their  great  authority,  fairly  considered 
and  weighed,  cannot  stand. 

85 

(December  5,   1864,   Annual   Message— Barrett,    p.    668.) 

For  myself  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  power  and 
duty  of  the  executive,  under'  the  law  of  nations,  to 
exclude  enemies  of  the  human  race  from  an  asylum 
in  the  United  States. 

86 

(September  22,  1861,  Letter  to  O.  H.  Browning— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  II,  p.  81.) 

I  do  not  say  Congress  might  not  with  propriety 
pass  a  law  on  the  point,  just  such  as  General  Fre- 
es 


7o  The  Constitution  and  the  Law 

mont  proclaimed.  I  do  not  say  I  might  not,  as  a 
member  of  Congress,  vote  for  it.  What  I  object  to 
is,  that  I,  as  president,  shall  expressly  or  impliedly 
seize  and  exercise  the  permanent  legislative  func- 
tions of  the  government. 

87 

(March  4,  1861,  First  Inaugural— Raymond,  p.   168.) 

By  the  frame  of  the  government  under  which 
we  live,  the  same  people  have  wisely  given  their 
public  servants  but  little  power  for  mischief,  and 
have,  with  equal  wisdom,  provided  for  the  return  of 
that  little  to  their  own  hands  at  very  short  intervals. 
While  the  people  retain  their  virtue  and  vigilance 
no  administration,  by  any  extreme  wickedness  or 
folly,  can  very  seriously  injure  the  government  in 
the  short  space  of  four  years. 
88 

(January   27,    1837,    Speech   at   Springfield,    111.— Complete   Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  12.) 

When  I  so  pressingly  urge  a  strict  observance 
of  the  laws,  let  me  not  be  understood  as  saying  there 
are  no  bad  laws,  or  that  grievances  may  not  arise 
for  the  redress  of  which  no  legal  provisions  have 
been  made.  I  mean  to  say  no  such  thing.  But  I 
do  mean  to  say  that  although  bad  laws,  if  they  exist, 
should  be  repealed  as  soon  as  possible,  still,  while 
they  continue  in  force,  for  the  sake  of  the  example 
they  should  be  religiously  observed. 


7 he  Constitution  and  the  Law  71 

89 

(July  1,  1848,  Fragment— Hapgood,  p.  97.) 

Finally,  were  I  President,  I  should  desire  the 
legislation  of  the  country  to  rest  with  Congress  un- 
influenced by  the  executive  in  its  origin  or  progress 
and  undisturbed  by  the  veto  unless  in  very  special 
and  clear  cases. 

90 

(February    15,    1848,  Letter  to  W.  H.   Herndon— Herndon,  p.  282.) 

The  provision  of  the  constitution  giving  the  war- 
making  power  to  Congress  was  dictated  as  I  under- 
stand it  by  the  following  reasons:  Kings  had  al- 
ways been  involving  and  impoverishing  their  people 
in  wars,  pretending  generally,  if  not  always,  that 
the  good  of  the  people  was  the  object.  This  our 
convention  understood  to  be  the  most  oppressive  of 
all  kingly  oppressions,  and  they  resolved  to  so  frame 
the  constitution  that  no  one  man  should  hold  the 
power  of  bringing  this  oppression  upon  us.  But 
your  view  destroys  the  whole  matter  and  places  our 
President  where  kings  have  always  stood. 

91 

(August  15,  1863,  Opinion  on  Draft  Act— Complete  Works,  Vol.  II, 
p.  390.) 

It  has  been  said,  and  I  believe  truly,  that  the 
Constitution  itself  is  not  altogether  such  as  any  one 
of  its  framers  would  have  preferred.  It  was  the 


•j2  The  Constitution  and  the  Law 

joint  work  of  all,  and  certainly  the  better  that  it 
was  so. 

92 

(March  4,  1861,  First  Inaugural— Van  Buren,  p.  53.) 

No  organic  law  can  ever  be  framed  with  a  pro- 
vision specifically  applicable  to  every  question  which 
may  occur  in  practical  administration.  No  foresight 
can  anticipate,  nor  document  of  reasonable  length 
contain,  express  provisions  for  all  possible  ques- 
tions. 

93 

(March  4,  1861,  First  Inaugural— Van  Buren,  p.  52.) 

We  find  the  proposition  that,  in  legal  contempla- 
tion, the  Union  is  perpetual  confirmed  by  the  his- 
tory of  the  Union  itself.  The  Union  is  much  older 
than  the  Constitution.  It  was  formed,  in  fact,  by  the 
Articles  of  Association  in  1774.  It  was  matured  and 
continued  by  the  Declaration  of  Independence  in 
1776.  It  was  further  matured,  and  the  faith  of  all 
the  thirteen  States  expressly  plighted  and  engaged 
that  it  should  be  perpetual,  by  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation in  1778.  And,  finally,  in  1787,  one  of  the 
declared  objects  for  ordaining  and  establishing  the 
Constitution  was  "to  form  a  more  perfect  Union." 

But  if  the  destruction  of  the  Union  by  one  or  by 
a  part  only  of  the  States  be  lawfully  possible,  the 
Union  is  less  perfect  than  before  the  Constitution 
having  lost  the  vital  element  of  perpetuity. 


The  Constitution  and  the  Law  73 

94 

(June  20,  1848,  Speech  in  Congress— Complete  Works,  Vol.  I,  p.  129.) 

I  wish  now  to  submit  a  few  remarks  on  the  gen- 
eral proposition  of  amending  the  Constitution.  As 
a  general  rule,  I  think  we  would  much  better  let  it 
alone.  No  slight  occasion  should  tempt  us  to  touch 
it.  Better,  rather,  habituate  ourselves  to  think  of 
it  as  unalterable.  It  can  scarcely  be  made  better 
than  it  is.  New  provisions  would  introduce  new 
difficulties,  and  thus  create  and  increase  appetite 
for  further  change. 

95 

(January  27,  1837,  Speech  at  Springfield,  111.— Complete  Works,  Vol. 
I,  D.  12.) 

Let  every  American,  every  lover  of  liberty,  every 
well-wisher  to  his  posterity  swear  by  the  blood  of 
the  Revolution  never  to  violate  in  the  least  particu- 
lar the  'Jaws  of  the  country,  and  never  to  tolerate 
their  violation  by  others.  As  the  patriots  of  seventy- 
six  did  to  the  support  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, so  to  the  support  of  the  Constitution  and 
laws  let  every  American  pledge  his  life,  his  property 
and  his  sacred  honor — let  every  man  remember  that 
to  violate  the  law  is  to  trample  on  the  blood  of  his 
father,  and  to  tear  the  charter  of  his  own  and  his 
children's  liberty.  Let  reverence  for  the  laws  be 
breathed  by  every  American  mother  to  the  lisping 


74  The  Constitution  and  the  Law 

babe  that  prattles  on  her  tap;  let  it  be  taught  in 
schools,  in  seminaries,  and  in  colleges;  let  it  be 
written  in  primers,  spelling-books,  and  in  almanacs; 
let  it  be  preached  from  the  pulpit,  proclaimed  in  leg- 
islative halls  and  enforced  in  courts  of  justice.  And 
in  short,  let  it  become  the  political!  religion  of  the 
nation;  and  let  the  old  and  the  young,  the  rich  and 
the  poor,  the  grave  and  the  gay  of  all  sexes  and 
tongues  and  colors  and  conditions,  sacrifice  unceas- 
ingly upon  its  altars. 

96 

(January  27,  1837,  Speech  at  Springfield,  111.— Complete  Works,  Vol. 
I,  P.  9.* 

I  hope  I  am  over  wary;  but  if  I  am  not,  there  is 
even  now  something  of  ill  omen  amongst  us.  I 
mean  the  increasing  disregard  for  law  which  per- 
vades the  country — the  growing  disposition  to  sub- 
stitute the  wild  and  furious  passions  in  lieu  of  the 
sober  judgment  of  courts,  and  the  worse  than  sav- 
age mobs  for  the  executive  ministers  of  justice. 
*  *  *  By  the  operation  of  this  mobocratic  spirit, 
which  all  must  admit  is  now  abroad  in  the  land,  the 
strongest  bulwark  of  any  government,  and  particu- 
larly of  those  constituted  like  ours,  may  effectually 
be  broken  down  and  destroyed — I  mean  the  attach- 
ment of  the  people.  Whenever  this  effect  shall  be 
produced  among  us;  whenever  the  vicious  portion 
of  population  shall  be  permitted  to  gather  in  bands 


The  Constitution  and  the  Law  75 

of  hundreds  and  thousands  and  burn  churches,  rav- 
age and  rob  provision  stores,  throw  printing-presses 
into  rivers,  shoot  editors  and  hang  and  burn  ob- 
noxious persons  at  pleasure,  and,  with  impunity, 
depend  on  it,  this  government  cannot  last.  By  such 
things  the  feelings  of  the  best  citizens  will  become 
more  or  less  alienated  from  it,  and  thus  it  will  be 
left  without  friends,  or  with  too  few,  and  those  few 
too  weak,  to  make  their  friendship  effectual.  At 
such  a  time,  and  under  such  circumstances,  men  of 
sufficient  talent  and  ambition  will  not  be  wanting  to 
seize  the  opportunity,  strike  the  blow,  and  overturn 
that  fair  fabric  which  for  the  last  half  century  has 
been  the  fondest  hope  of  the  lovers  of  freedom 
throughout  the  world. 

97 

(July  27,  1848,  Speech  in  Congress— Complete  Works,  Vol.  I,  p.  137.) 

That  the  Constitution  gives  the  President  a  nega- 
tive on  legislation,  all  know;  but  that  this  negative 
should  be  so  combined  with  platforms  and  other 
appliances  as  to  enable  him,  and  in  fact  almost 
compel  him,  to  take  the  whole  of  legislation  into 
his  own  hands  is  what  we  object  to,  is  what  General 
Taylor  objects  to,  and  is  what  constitutes  the  broad 
distinction  between  you  and  us.  To  thus  transfer 
legislation  is  clearly  to  take  it  from  those  who  un- 
derstand with  minuteness  trie  interest  of  the  people, 


76  The  Constitution  and  the  Law 

and  give  it  to  one  who  does  not  and  cannot  so  well 
understand  it. 

98 

(July  5,   1861,   First  Annual   Message— Barrett,  p.   266.) 

Our  popular  government  has  often  been  called 
"an  experiment."  Two  points  in  it  our  people  have 
settled:  the  successful  establishing  and  successful 
administering  of  it.  One  still  remains — its  suc- 
cessful maintenance  against  a  formidable  internal 
attempt  to  overthrow  it.  It  is  now  for  them  to  dem- 
onstrate to  the  world  that  those  who  can  fairly  carry 
an  election  can  also  suppress  a  rebellion;  that  bal- 
lots are  the  rightful  and  peaceful  successors  of  bul- 
lets, and  that  when  ballots  have  fairly  and  constitu- 
tionally decided  there  can  be  no  successful  appeal 
back  to  bullets,  that  there  can  be  no  successful  ap- 
peal except  to  ballots  themselves  at  succeeding  elec- 
tions. 

99 

(September  2,  1863,  Letter  to  Secretary  Chase— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  II.  p.  402.) 

Knowing  your  great  anxiety  that  the  Emancipa- 
tion Proclamation  shall  now  be  applied  to  certain 
parts  of  Virginia  and  Louisiana  which  were  exempt 
from  it  last  January,  I  state  briefly  what  appears  to 
me  to  be  difficulties  in  the  way  of  such  a  step. 

The  original  proclamation  has  no  constitutional 


The  Constitution  and  the  Law  77 

or  legal  justification,  except  as  a  military  measure. 
The  exemptions  were  made  because  the  military 
necessity  did  not  apply  to  the  exempted  localities. 
Nor  does  that  necessity  apply  to  them  now  any 
more  than  it  did  then.  If  I  take  the  step,  must  I  not 
do  so  without  the  argument  of  military  necessity, 
and  so  without  any  argument  except  the  one  that 
I  think  the  measure  politically  expedient  and  mor- 
ally right?  Would  I  not  thus  give  up  all  footing 
upon  Constitution  or  law?  Would  I  not  thus  be  in 
the  boundless  field  of  absolutism?  Could  this  pass 
unnoticed  or  unresisted?  Could  it  fail  to  be  per- 
ceived that  without  any  further  stretch  I  might  do 
the  same  in  Delaware,  Maryland,  Kentucky,  Tenn- 
essee, and  Missouri,  and  even  change  any  law  in 
any  State?  Would  not  many  of  our  own  friends 
shrink  away  appalled?  Would  it  not  lose  us  the 
elections,  and  with  them  the  very  cause  we  seek 
to  advance? 

100 

(March  4,  1861,  First  Inaugural— Van  Buren,  p.  51.) 

I  take  the  official  oath  to-day  with  no  mental  res- 
ervations, and  with  no  purpose  to  construe  the 
Constitution  or  laws  by  any  hypercritical  rules. 

101 

(March  4,  1861,  First  Inaugural— Van  Buren,  p.  52.) 

I  hold  that,  in  contemplation  of  universal  law 
and  of  the  Constitution,  the  union  of  these  States 


78  The  Constitution  and  the  Law 

is  perpetual.  Perpetuity  is  implied,  if  not  ex- 
pressed, in  the  fundamental  law  of  all  national  gov- 
ernments. It  is  safe  to  assert  that  no  government 
proper  ever  had  a  provision  in  its  organic  law  for  its 
own  termination.  Continue  to  execute  all  the  ex- 
press provisions  of  our  National  Constitution  and 
the  Union  will  endure  forever — it  being  impossible 
to  destroy  it  except  by  some  action  not  provided 
for  in  the  instrument  itself. 

102 

(February  15,   1861,   Speech  at  Pittsburg,   Pa.— Raymond,   p.   139.) 

By  the  Constitution  the  Executive  may  recom- 
mend measures  which  he  may  think  proper,  and 
he  may  veto  those  he  thinks  improper,  and  it  is  sup- 
posed that  he  may  add  to  these  certain  indirect  in- 
fluences to  affect  the  action  of  Congress.  My 
political  education  strongly  inclines  me  against  a 
very  free  use  of  any  of  these  means  by  the  Execu- 
tive to  control  the  legislation  of  the  country.  As  a 
rule,  I  think  it  better  that  Congress  should  origi- 
nate as  well  as  perfect  its  measures  without  ex- 
ternal bias. 

103 

(September  15,   1858,   Speech  at  Jonesboro,   111.— Debates,   p.   127.) 

What  do  you  understand  by  supporting  the  con- 
stitution of  a  State  or  of  the  United  States?  Is  it 
not  to  give  such  constitutional  helps  to  the  rights 


The  Constitution  and  the  Law  79 

established  by  that  constitution  as  may  be  practi- 
cally needed?  Can  you,  if  you  swear  to  support 
the  Constitution  and  believe  that  the  Constitution 
establishes  a  right,  clear  your  oath  without  giving 
it  support?  Do  you  support  the  Constitution  if, 
knowing  or  believing  there  is  a  right  established 
under  it  which  needs  specific  legislation,  you  with- 
hold that  legislation?  Do  you  not  violate  and  dis- 
regard your  oath?  I  can  conceive  of  nothing 
plainer  in  the  world. 

104 

(April  4,  1864,  Letter  to  A.  G.  Hodges— Van  Buren,  p.  351.) 

I  did  understand,  however,  that  the  very  oath 
to  preserve  the  Constitution  to  the  best  of  my  abil- 
ity imposed  upon  me  the  duty  of  preserving,  by 
every  indispensable  means,  that  government,  that 
nation  of  which  that  Constitution  was  the  organic 
law.  Was  it  possible  to  lose  the  nation  and  yet 
preserve  the  Constitution?  *  *  *  I  felt  that 
measures  otherwise  unconstitutional  might  become 
lawful  by  becoming  indispensable  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Constitution  through  the  preservation 
of  the  nation.  Right  or  wrong,  I  assumed  this 
ground  and  now  avow  it.  I  could  not  feel  that,  to 
the  best  of  my  ability,  I  had  even  tried  to  preserve 
the  Constitution,  if  to  preserve  slavery  or  any 
minor  matter  I  should  permit  the  wreck  of  govern- 
ment, country  and  Constitution  altogether. 


go  The  Constitution  and  the  Law 

105 

(June  12,  1863,  Letter  to  Erastus  Corning  and  others— Van  Buren, 
p.  271.) 

If  I  be  wrong  on  this  question  of  constitutional 
power,  my  error  lies  in  believing  that  certain  pro- 
ceedings are  constitutional  when  in  case  of  rebellion 
or  invasion  the  public  safety  requires  them,  which 
would  not  be  constitutional  when,  in  the  absence  of 
rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public  safety  does  not  re- 
quire them;  in  other  words,  that  the  Constitution 
is  not,  in  its  application,  in  all  respects  the  same 
in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion  involving  the  public 
safety,  as  it  is  in  times  of  profound  peace  and  public 
security. 

106 

(July  20,  1863,  Letter  to  Ohio  Democrats— Van  Buren,  p.  294.) 

You  say,  "the  undersigned  are  unable  to  agree 
with  you  in  the  opinion  you  have  expressed,  that  the 
Constitution  is  different  in  time  of  insurrection  or 
invasion  from  what  it  is  in  time  of  peace  and  public 
security." 

A  recurrence  to  the  paper  will  show  you  that  I 
have  not  expressed  the  opinion  you  suppose.  I 
expressed  the  opinion  that  the  Constitution  is  dif- 
ferent in  its  application  in  cases  of  rebellion  or 
invasion  involving  the  public  safety  from  what  it  is 
in  times  of  profound  peace  and  public  security ;  and 


The  Constitution  and  the  Law  81 

this  opinion  I  adhere  to,  simply  because,  by  the 
Constitution,  itself,  things  may  be  done  in  the  one 
case  which  may  not  be  done  in  the  other. 

107 

(October  19,  1864,  Speech  at  a  Serenade— Van  Buren,  p.  386.) 

I  am  struggling  to  maintain  the  government,  not 
to  overthrow  it.  I  am  struggling  especially  to  pre- 
vent others  from  overthrowing  it.  I  therefore  say 
that,  if  I  shall  live,  I  shall  remain  President  until 
the  fourth  of  next  March,  and  that  whoever  shall 
be  constitutionally  elected  in  November  shall  be 
duly  installed  as  President  on  the  fourth  of  March. 
This  is  due  to  the  people,  both  on  principle  and 
under  the  Constitution.  Their  will,  constitutionally 
expressed,  is  the  ultimate  law  for  all.  If  they 
should  deliberately  resolve  to  have  peace,  even  at 
the  loss  of  their  country  and  their  liberty,  I  know 
not  the  power  or  the  right  to  resist  them.  It  is 
their  business,  and  they  must  do  as  they  please' 
with  their  own.  I  believe,  however,  they  are  still 
resolved  to  preserve  their  country  and  their  liberty ; 
and,  in  this  office  or  out,  I  am  resolved  to  stand  by 
them. 

108 

(July  4,  1864,  To  Senator  Chandler— Morse,  Vol.  II,  p.  233.) 

I  do  not  see  how  any  of  us  now  can  deny  and 
contradict  what  we  have  always  said,  that  Congress 


82  The  Constitution  and  the  Law 

has  no  constitutional  power  over  slavery  in  the 
States. 

109 

(August    26,    1863,    Letter  to  James  C.  Conkling— Herndon,  p.  552.) 

I  think  the  Constitution  invests  its  Commander- 
in-Chief  with  the  law  of  war  in  time  of  war. 


THE  COURTS  AND  THE  PEOPLE. 
110 

(June  17,  1858,  Speech  at  Springfield,  111.— The  persons  referred  to 
are  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Franklin  Pierce,  Roger  B.  Taney  and 
James  Buchanan— Debates,  p.  3.) 

We  cannot  absolutely  know  that  these  exact 
adaptations  are  the  result  of  preconcert,  but  when 
we  see  a  lot  of  framed  timbers,  different  portions 
of  which  we  know  have  been  gotten  out  at  different 
times  and  places,  and  by  different  workmen — Ste- 
phen, Franklin,  Roger  and  James,  for  instance — 
and  when  we  see  these  timbers  joined  together,  and 
see  that  they  exactly  make  the  frame  of  a  house  or 
a  mill.,  all  the  tenons  and  mortices  exactly  fitting, 
and  all  the  lengths  and  proportions  of  the  different 
pieces  exactly  adapted  to  their  respective  places, 
and  not  a  piece  too  many  or  too  few — not  omitting 
even  the  scaffolding — or  if  a  single  piece  be  lack- 
ing, we  see  the  place  in  the  frame  exactly  fitted 
and  prepared  yet  to  bring  such  a  piece  in — in  such 
a  case  we  feel  it  impossible  not  to  believe  that  Ste- 
phen, and  Franklin,  and  Roger,  and  James,  all  un- 
derstood one  another  from  the  beginning,  and  all 
worked  upon  a  common  plan,  or  draft,  drawn  be- 
fore the  first  blow  was  struck. 


84  The  Courts  and  the  People 

III 

(June  26,  1857,  Speech  at  Springfield,  111.— Howells,  p.  175.) 

Why,  this  Supreme  Court  once  decided  a  national 
bank  to  be  constitutional,  but  General  Jackson,  as 
President  of  the  United  States,  disregarded  the  de- 
cision and  vetoed  the  bill  for  a  recharter  partly  on 
constitutional  grounds,  declaring  that  each  public 
functionary  must  support  the  Constitution,  "as  he 
understands  it."  But  hear  the  General's  own 
words.  Here  they  are,  taken  from  his  veto  mes- 
sage: 

"If  the  opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court  covered  the 
whole  ground  of  this  act,  it  ought  not  to  control 
the  co-ordinate  authorities  of  this  government. 
The  Congress,  the  Executive  and  the  Court  must 
each  for  itself  be  guided  by  its  own  opinion  of  the 
Constitution.  Each  public  officer  who  takes  an 
oath  to  support  the  Constitution,  swears  that  he  will 
support  it  as  he  understands  it,  and  not  as  it  is  un- 
derstood by  others." 

112 

(July  10,  1858,  Speech  at  Chicago,  111.— Debates,  p.  20.) 

Do  not  gentlemen  here  remember  the  case  of 
that  same  Supreme  Court,  some  twenty-five  or 
thirty  years  ago,  deciding  that  a  national  bank  was 
constitutional?  *  *  *  The  bank  charter  ran 


The  Courts  an    t-te  People  85 

out,  and  a  recharter  was  granted  by  Congress. 
That  recharter  was  laid  before  General  Jackson. 
It  was  urged  upon  him,  when  he  denied  the  consti- 
tutionality of  the  bank,  that  the  Supreme  Court  had 
decided  that  it  was  constitutional;  and  that  General 
Jackson  then  said  that  the  Supreme  Court  had  no 
right  to  lay  down  a  rule  to  govern  a  co-ordinate 
branch  of  the  government,  the  members  of  which 
had  sworn  to  support  the  Constitution — that  each 
member  had  sworn  to  support  that  Constitution  as 
he  understood  it. 

113 

(July  17,  1858,   Speech  at  Springfield,  111.— Debates,  p.  61.) 

I  shall  read  from  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  Jefferson 
in  1820,  and  now  to  be  found  in  the  seventh  volume 
of  his  correspondence  at  page  177.  It  seems  he  had 
been  presented  by  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Jar- 
vis  with  a  book,  or  essay,  or  periodical,  called  the 
"Republican,"  and  he  was  writing  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  present  and  noting  some  of  its  contents. 
After  expressing  the  hope  that  the  work  will  pro- 
duce a  favorable  effect  upon  the  minds  of  the 
young,  he  proceeds  to  say: 

"That  it  will  have  this  tendency  may  be  expected, 
and  for  that  reason  I  feel  an  urgency  to  note  what  I 
deem  an  error  in  it,  the  more  requiring  notice  as 
your  opinion  is  strengthened  by  that  of  many  oth- 


86  The  Cow  is  and  the  People 

ers.  You  seem,  in  pages  84  and  148,  to  consider 
the  judges  as  the  ultimate  arbiters  of  all  constitu- 
tional questions — a  very  dangerous  doctrine  indeed, 
and  one  which  would  place  us  under  the  despotism 
of  an  oligarchy.  Our  judges  are  as  honest  as  other 
men,  and  not  more  so.  They  have,  with  others,  the 
same  passion  for  party,  for  power,  and  the  privi- 
lege of  their  corps.  Their  maxim  is  'boni  judicis 
est  ampliare  jurisdictionem ;'  and  their  power  is  the 
more  dangerous  as  they  are  in  office  for  life,  and 
not  responsible,  as  the  other  functionaries  are,  to  the 
elective  control.  The  Constitution  has  erected  no 
such  single  tribunal,  knowing  that,  to  whatever 
hands  confided,  with  the  corruptions  of  time  and 
party,  its  members  would  become  despots.  It  has 
more  wisely  made  all  the  departments  co-equal  and 
co-sovereign  with  themselves." 

Now  I  have  said  no  more  than  this — in  fact, 
never  quite  so  much  as  this — at  least  I  am  sustained 
by  Mr.  Jefferson. 

Let  us  go  a  little  further.  *  *  *  General 
Jackson  himself  asserted  that  he,  as  President, 
would  not  be  bound  to  hold  a  national  bank  to  be 
constitutional,  even  though  the  court  had  decided 
it  to  be  so.  He  fell  in  precisely  with  the  view  of 
Mr.  Jefferson,  and  acted  upon  it  under  his  official 
oath,  in  vetoing  a  charter  for  a  national  bank. 


The  Courts  and  the  People  87 

114 

(July  10,  1858,  Speech  at  Chicago,  111.— Debates,  p.  20.) 

What  is  fairly  implied  by' the  term  *  *  *  "resist- 
ance to  the  decision?"  I  do  not  resist  it.  If  I 
wanted  to  take  Dred  Scott  from  his  master,  I 
would  be  interfering  with  property,  and  that  terri- 
ble difficulty  *  *  *  of  interfering  with  property 
would  arise.  But  I  am  doing  no  such  thing  as 
that,  but  all  that  I  am  doing  is  refusing  to  obey  it 
as  a  political  rule. 

115 

(July   10,    1858,  Speech  at  Chicago,  111.— Debates,  p.  20.) 

What  are  the  uses  of  decisions  of  courts?  They 
have  two  uses.  As  rules  of  property  they,  have  two 
uses.  First,  they  decide  upon  the  question  before 
the  court.  They  decide  in  this  case  that  Dred  Scott 
is  a  slave.  Nobody  resists  that.  Not  only  that, 
but  they  say  to  everybody  else,  that  persons  stand- 
ing just  as  Dred  Scott  stands,  are  as  he  is.  That  is, 
they  say,  when  a  question  comes  up  upon  another 
person,  it  will  be  so  decided  again  unless  the  court 
decides  in  another  way,  unless  the  court  overrules 
its  decision.  Well,  we  mean  to  do  what  we  can  to 
have  the  court  decide  the  other  way.  That  is  "one 
thing  we  mean  to  try  to  do. 


88  The  Courts  and  the  People 

116 

(September  17,  1859,  Speech  at  Cincinnati,  O.— Debates,  p.  268.) 

The  people  of  these  United  States  are  the  right- 
ful masters  of  both  Congresses  and  Courts,  not  to 
overthrow  the  Constitution,  but  to  overthrow  the 
men  who  pervert  the  Constitution. 

117 

(October  13,  1858,  Speech  at  Quincy,  111.— Debates,  p.  197.) 

We  oppose  the  Dred  Scott  decision  in  a  ceitain 
way  upon  which  I  ought,  perhaps,  address  you  a 
few  words.  We  do  not  propose  that  when  Dred 
Scott  has  been  decided  to  be  a  slave  by  the  court 
we,  as  a  mob,  will  decide  him  to  be  free.  We  do 
not  propose  that  when  any  other  one,  or  one  thou- 
sand, shall  be  decided  by  that  court  to  be  slaves, 
we  will,  in  any  violent  way,  disturb  the  rights  of 
property  thus  settled;  but  we,  nevertheless,  do  op- 
pose that  decision  as  a  political  rule  which  shall  be 
binding  on  the  voter  to  vote  for  nobody  who  thinks 
it  wrong;  which  shall  be  binding  on  the  members 
of  Congress  or  the  President  to  favor  no  measure 
that  does  not  actually  concur  with  the  principles  of 
that  decision.  We  do  not  propose  to  be  bound  by 
it  as  a  political  rule  in  that  way,  because  we  think 
it  lays  the  foundation  not  merely  of  enlarging  and 
spreading  out  what  we  consider  an  evil,  but  it  lays 


The  Courts  and  the  People  89 

the  foundation  for  spreading  that  evil  into  the 
States  themselves.  We  propose  so  resisting  it  as  to 
have  it  reversed,  if  we  can,  and  a  new  judicial  rule 
established  upon  this  subject. 

118 

(June  17,  1858,  Speech  at  Springfield,   111.— Debates,  p.  61.) 

I  am  opposed  to  that  decision  in  a  certain  sense, 
but  not  in  the  sense  which  he  puts  on  it.  I  say  that 
in  so  far  as  it  decides  in  favor  of  Dred  Scott's  mas- 
ter and  against  Dred  Scott  and  his  family,  I  do  not 
propose  to  disturb  or  resist  the  decision.  I  never 
have  proposed  to  do  any  such  thing.  *  *  *  He 
would  have  the  citizen  conform  his  vote  to  that  de- 
cision, the  member  of  Congress  his,  the  President 
his  use  of  the  veto  power.  He  would  make  it  a 
rule  of  political  action  for  the  people  and  all  the 
departments  of  the  government.  I  would  not.  By 
resisting  it  as  a  political  rule  I  disturb  no  rights  of 
property,  create  no  disorder,  excite  no  mobs. 

119 

(September  17,  1859,  Speech  at  Cincinnati,   O.— Debates,  p.   257.) 

We  know  that  in  a  government  like  this,  in  a 
government  of  the  people,  where  the  voice  of  all  the 
men  of  that  country,  substantially,  enters  into  the 
execution — or  administration  rather — of  the  gov- 
ernment, in  such  a  government  what  lies  at  the  bot- 
tom of  all  of  it  is  public  opinion. 


go  The  Courts  and  the  People 

120 

(August  21,  1858,  Speech  at  Ottawa,  111.— Debates,  p.  82.) 

In  this  and  like  communities  public  sentiment  is 
everything.  With  public  sentiment  nothing  can 
fail;  without  it  nothing  can  succeed.  Consequently 
he  who  moulds  public  sentiment  goes  deeper  than 
he  who  enacts  statutes  or  pronounces  decisions.  He 
makes  statutes  and  decisions  possible  or  impossible 
to  be  executed. 

121 

(March  4,  1861,  First  Inaugural— Raymond,  p.  167.) 

I  do  not  forget  the  position  assumed  by  some, 
that  constitutional  questions  are  to  be  decided  by 
the  Supreme  Court;  nor  do  I  deny  that  such  de- 
cisions must  be  binding,  in  any  case,  upon  the  par- 
ties to  the  suit,  as  to  the  objects  of  that  suit,  while 
they  are  also  entitled  to  very  high  respect  and  con- 
sideration in  all  parallel  cases,  by  all  other  depart- 
ments of  the  government.  And  while  it  is  ob- 
viously possible  that  such  decisions  may  be 
erroneous  in  any  given  case,  still  the  evil  effect  fol- 
lowing it  being  limited  to  that  particular  case,  with 
the  chance  that  it  may  be  overruled,  and  never  be- 
come a  precedent  for  other  cases,  can  better  be 
borne  than  could  the  evils  of  a  different  prac- 
tice. At  the  same  time  the  candid  citizen  must 


The  Courts  and  the  People  91 

confess  that  if  the  policy  of  the  government,  upon 
vital  questions  affecting  the  whole  people,  is  to  be 
irrevocably  fixed  by  decisions  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  the  instant  they  are  made  in  ordinary  liti- 
gation, between  parties  in  personal  actions,  the  peo- 
ple will  have  ceased  to  be  their  own  rulers,  having 
to  that  extent  practically  resigned  their  govern- 
ment into  the  hands  of  that  eminent  tribunal. 


SUFFRAGE  AND  ELECTIONS. 
122 

(November  10,  1864,  Response  to  a  Serenade— Van  Buren,  p.   391.) 

Human  nature  will  not  change.  In  any  future 
great  national  trial,  compared  with  the  men  of  this, 
we  shall  have  as  weak  and  as  strong,  as  silly  and 
as  wise,  as  bad  and  as  good. 

Let  us,  therefore,  study  the  incidents  of  this  as  a 
philosophy  to  learn  wisdom  from,  and  none  of 
them  as  wrongs  to  be  revenged.  But  the  election, 
along  with  its  incidental  and  undesirable  strife,  has 
done  good,  too.  It  has  demonstrated  that  a  peo- 
ple's government  can  sustain  a  national  election  in 
the  midst  of  a  great  civil  war.  Until  now  it  was 
not  known  to  the  world  that  this  was  a  possibility. 

123 

(January  30,  1861,  Interview  Published  in  New  York  Tribune— Van 
Buren,  p.  16.) 

I  will  suffer  death  before  I  will  consent,  or  advise 
my  friends  to  consent,  to  any  concessions  or  com- 
promise which  looks  like  buying  the  privilege  of 
taking  possession  of  the  government  to  which  we 
have  a  constitutional  right. 

93 


94  Suffrage  and  Elections 

124 

(October  1,  1858,  Notes  for  a  Speech— Complete  Works,  Vol.  I,  p. 
427.) 

To  give  the  victory  to  the  right,  no  bloody  bul- 
lets but  peaceful  ballots,  only,  are  necessary.  Thanks 
to  our  good  old  Constitution,  and  organization  un- 
der it,  these  alone  are  necessary.  It  only  needs 
that  every  right  thinking  man  shall  go  to  the  polls, 
and,  without  fear  or  prejudice,  vote  as  he  thinks. 

125 

(November  20,  1860,  Remarks  at  the  Celebration  of  his  Election, 
Springfield,   111.— Complete  Works,   Vol.   I,   p.  655.) 

In  all  our  rejoicings,  let  us  neither  express  nor 
cherish  any  hard  feelings  toward  any  citizen  who, 
by  his  vote,  has  differed  with  us.  Let  us  at  all  times 
remember  that  all  American  citizens  are  brothers 
of  a  common  country,  and  should  dwell  together 
in  bonds  of  fraternal  feeling. 

126 

(November  10,  1864,  Response  to  a  Serenade— Van  Bur  en,  p.  390.) 

It  has  long  been  a  grave  question  whether  any 
government,  not  too  strong  for  the  liberties  of  the 
people,  can  be  strong  enough  to  maintain  its  exist- 
ence in  great  emergencies.  On  this  point  the  pres- 
ent rebellion  brought  our  republic  to  a  severe  test, 
and  a  presidential  election,  occurring  in  regular 


Suffrage  and  Elections  95 

course  during  the  rebellion,  added  not  a  little  to  the 
strain. 

If  the  loyal  people  united  were  put  to  the  utmost 
of  their  strength  by  the  rebellion,  must  they  not  fail 
when  divided  and  partially  paralyzed  by  a  political 
war  among  themselves?  But  the  election  was  a 
necessity.  We  cannot  have  free  government  with- 
out elections. 

127 

(June  13,   1836,   Announcement  of  Political  Views— Coffin,  p.   89.) 

I  go  for  all  sharing  the  privilege  of  the  govern- 
ment who  assist  in  bearing  its  burdens;  conse- 
quently, I  go  for  admitting  all  whites  to  the  right 
of  suffrage  who  pay  taxes  or  bear  arms,  by  no 
means  excluding  females. 

128 

(Interview,  Springfield,  111.— Herndon,  p.  625.) 

I  am  opposed  to  the  limitation  or  lessening  of 
the  right  of  suffrage.  If  anything  I  am  in  favor  of 
its  extension  or  enlargement.  I  want  to  lift  men 
up — to  broaden  rather  than  contract  their  privi- 
leges. 

129 

(February  27,  1860,   Speech  at  Cooper  Institute,  New  York— How- 
ells,  p.  210.) 

To  be  sure,  what  the  robber  demands  of  me — 


96  Suffrage  and  Elections 

my  money — was  my  own;  and  I  had  a  clear  right 
to  keep  it ;  but  it  was  no  more  my  own  than  my  vote 
is  my  own ;  and  the  threat  of  death  to  me,  to  extort 
my  money,  and  the  threat  of  destruction  to  the 
Union,  to  extort  my  vote,  can  scarcely  be  distin- 
guished in  principle. 

130 

(October  27,  1863,  From  Letter  to  T.  Swann— Complete  Works,  Vol. 
II,   p.  431.) 

I  am  somewhat  mortified  that  there  could  be  any 
doubt  of  my  views  upon  the  point  of  your  inquiry. 
I  wish  all  loyal  qualified  voters  in  Maryland  and 
elsewhere  to  have  the  undisturbed  privilege  of  vot- 
ing at  elections;  and  neither  my  authority  nor  my 
name  can  be  properly  used  to  the  contrary. 

131 

(July  4,  1864,  Letter  to  the  Postmaster  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.— Tar- 
bell,  Vol.  II,  p.  204.) 

My  wish  is  that  you  will  do  just  as  you  think  fit 
with  your  own  suffrage,  in  the  case,  and  not  con- 
strain any  of  your  subordinates  to  other  than  he 
thinks  fit  with  his. 

132 

(March  17,   1860,   Letter  to  E.   Stafford— Complete  Works,   Vol.   I, 
p.  632.) 

Dear  Sir:  Reaching  home  on  the  I4th  instant, 
I  found  yours  of  the  1st.  Thanking  you  very  sin- 


Suffrage  and  Elections  97 

cerely  for  your  kind  purpose  toward  me,  I  am  com- 
pelled to  say  the  money  part  of  the  arrangement 
you  propose  is  with  me  an  impossibility.  I  could 
not  raise  ten  thousand  dollars  if  it  would  save  me 
from  the  fate  of  John  Brown.  Nor  have  my 
friends,  so  far  as  I  know,  yet  reached  the  point  of 
staking  any  money  on  my  chances  of  success.  I 
wish  I  could  tell  you  better  things,  but  it  is  even 
so.  Yours  very  truly, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

133 

(March    16,    1860,    Letter  to  friend  in  Kansas— Herndon,  p.  458.) 

As  to  your  kind  wishes  for  myself,  allow  me  to 
say  I  cannot  enter  the  ring  on  the  money  basis — • 
first,  because  in  the  main  it  is  wrong;  and  secondly, 
I  have  not  and  cannot  get  the  money.  I  say  in  the 
main  the  use  of  money  is  wrong ;  but  for  certain  ob- 
jects  in  a  political  contest  the  use  of  some  is  both 
right  and  indispensable. 

With  me,  as  with  yourself,  this  long  struggle  has 
been  one  of  great  pecuniary  loss.  I  now  distinctly 
say  this:  If  you  shall  be  appointed  a  delegate  to 
Chicago  I  will  furnish  one  hundred  dollars  to  bear 
the  expenses  of  the  trip. 

134 

(October  22,   1864,   Letter  to  Wm.    B.   Campbell— Barrett,   p.   658.) 

I  presume  that  the  conducting  of  a  presidential 


98  Suffrage  and  Elections 

election  in  Tennessee  in  strict  accordance  with  the 
old  code  of  the  State,  is  not  now  a  possibility. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that  if  any  elec- 
tion shall  be  held  and  any  vote  cast  in  the  State  of 
Tennessee  for  President  and  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States,  it  will  belong,  not  to  the  military 
agents,  nor  yet  to  the  executive  department,  but 
exclusively  to  another  department  of  the  govern- 
ment, to  determine  whether  they  are  entitled  to  be 
counted  in  conformity  with  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  United  States.  Except  it  be  to  give 
protection  against  violence,  I  decline  to  interfere 
in  any  way  with  any  presidential  election. 


CAPITAL,  LAND  AND  LABOK. 
135 

(February    12,    1861,    Speech   at   Cincinnati,    O.— Complete    Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  676.) 

In  regard  to  the  homestead  law,  I  have  to  say  that 
in  so  far  as  the  government  lands  can  be  disposed 
of,  I  am  in  favor  of  cutting  up  the  wild  lands  into 
parcels,  so  that  every  poor  man  may  have  a  home. 

136 

(December  20,   1839,   Speech  at  Springfield,    111.— Complete  Works, 
Vol.   I,  p.  24.) 

Knowing,  as  I  well  do,  the  difficulty  that  poor 
people  now  encounter  in  procuring  homes,  I  hesi- 
tate not  to  say  that  when  the  price  of  the  public 
land  shall  be  doubled  or  trebled,  or,  which  is  the 
same  thing,  produce  and  labor  cut  down  to  one- 
half  or  one-third  of  their  present  prices,  it  will  be 
little  less  than  impossible  for  them  to  procure  those 
homes  at  all. 

137 

(February    12,    1861,    Speech   at   Cincinnati,    O.— Complete   Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  676.) 

In  regard  to  the  Germans  and  foreigners,  I  es- 
teem them  no  better  than  other  people,  nor  any 
worse.  It  is  not  my  nature,  when  I  see  a  people 
borne  down  by  the  weight  of  their  shackles — the 

99 


ioo  Capital,  Land  and  Labor 

oppression  of  tyranny — to  make  their  life  more  bit- 
ter by  heaping  upon  them  greater  burdens;  but 
rather  would  I  do  all  in  my  power  to  raise  the  yoke 
than  to  add  anything  that  would  tend  to  crush 
them. 

Inasmuch  as  our  country  is  extensive  and  new, 
and  the  countries  of  Europe  are  densely  populated, 
if  there  are  any  abroad  who  desire  to  make  this 
the  land  of  their  adoption,  it  is  not  in  my  heart,  to 
throw  aught  in  their  way  to  prevent  them  from  com- 
ing to  the  United  States. 

138 

(October  15,  1858,  Speech  at  Alton,  111.— Debates,  p.  232.) 

Now,  irrespective  of  the  moral  aspect  of  this  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  there  is  a  right  or  wrong  in 
enslaving  a  negro,  I  am  still  in  favor  of  our  new 
territories  being  in  such  a  condition  that  white  men 
may  find  a  home;  may  find  some  spot  where  they 
can  better  their  condition,  where  they  can  settle 
upon  new  soil  and  better  their  condition  in  life.  I 
am  in  favor  of  this,  not  merely  (I  must  say  it  here 
as  I  have  elsewhere)  for  our  own  people  who  are 
born  amongst  us,  but  as  an  outlet  for  free  white 
people  everywhere  the  world  over  in  which  Hans, 
and  Baptiste,  and  Patrick,  and  all  other  men  from 
all  the  world,  may  find  new  homes  and  better  their 
condition  in  life. 


Capital)  Land  and  Labor  101 

139 

(February  2,  1863,  Letter  to  Working  Men  of  London,  Eng.— Com- 
plete Works,  Vol.  II,  p.  308.) 

The  resources,  advantages  and  powers  of  the 
American  people  are  very  great,  and  they  have  con- 
sequently succeeded  to  equally  great  responsibili- 
ties. It  seems  to  have  devolved  upon  them  to  test 
whether  a  government  established  on  the  princi- 
ples of  human  freedom  can  be  maintained  against 
an  effort  to  build  one  upon  the  exclusive  foundation 
of  human  bondage. 

140 

(October  1,   1858,  Notes  for  Speeches— Complete  Works,  Vol.  I,  p. 
413.) 

Suppose  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ross  has  a  slave  named 
Sambo,  and  the  question  is,  "Is  it  the  will  of  God 
that  Sambo  shall  remain  a  slave,  or  be  set  free?" 
The  Almighty  gives  no  audible  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion, and  his  revelation,  the  Bible,  gives  none — or 
at  most  none  but  such  as  admits  of  a  squabble  as 
to  its  meaning;  no  one  thinks  of  asking  Sambo's 
opinion  of  it.  So  at  last  it  comes  to  this,  that  Dr. 
Ross  is  to  decide  the  question,  and  while  he  consid- 
ers it  he  sits  in  the  shade,  with  gloves  on  his  hands, 
and  subsists  on  the  bread  that  Sambo  is  earning  in 
the  burning  sun.  If  he  decides  that  God  wills 
Sambo  to  continue  a  slave,  he  thereby  retains  his 
own  comfortable  position;  but  if  he  decides  that 


IO2  Capital,  Land  and  Labor 

God  wills  Sambo  to  be  free,  he  thereby  has  to  walk 
out  of  the  shade,  throw  off  his  gloves  and  delve 
for  his  own  bread.  Will  Dr.  Ross  be  actuated  by 
the  perfect  impartiality  which  has  ever  been  consid- 
ered most  favorable  to  correct  decisions? 

141 

(February   12,    1861,    Speech   at    Cincinnati,    O.— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I.  p.  676.) 

The  workingmen  are  the  basis  of  all  govern- 
ments, for  the  plain  reason  that  they  are  the  more 
numerous. 

142 

(December  1,  1862,  Annual  Message— Van  Buren,  p.  233.) 

Labor  is  like  any  other  commodity  in  the  mar- 
ket— increase  the  demand  for  it  and  you  increase 
the  price. 

143 

(March  6,  1860,   Speech  at  New  Haven,   Conn.— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  622.) 

Let  each  let  the  other  alone,  and  there  is  no 
struggle  about  it.  If  it  was  like  two  wrecked  sea- 
men on  a  narrow  plank,  where  each  must  push  the 
other  off  or  drown  himself,  I  would  push  the  negro 
off — or  a  white  man  either ;  but  it  is  not :  the  plank 
is  large  enough  for  both.  This  good  earth  is  plenty 
broad  enough  for  white  man  and  negro  both,  and 
there  is  no  need  of  either  pushing  the  other  off. 


Capital,  Land  and  Labor  103 

144 

(July  1,   1854,   Fragment  on  Slavery— Complete  Works,  Vol.   I,  p. 
179.) 

There  is  no  permanent  class  of  hired  laborers 
amongst  us.  Twenty-five  years  ago  I  was  a  hired 
laborer.  The  hired  laborer  of  yesterday  labors  on 
his  own  account  to-day,  and  will  hire  others  to  labor 
for  him  to-morrow.  Advancement — improvement 
in  condition — is  the  order  of  things  in  a  society  of 
equals.  As  labor  is  the  common  burden  of  our 
race,  so  the  effort  of  some  to  shift  their  share  of 
the  burden  onto  the  shoulders  of  others  is  the 
great  durable  curse  of  the  race. 

145 

(October  15,   1858,    Speech  at  Alton,   111.— Debates,   p.  234.) 

That  is  the  issue  that  will  continue  in  this  country 
when  these  poor  tongues  of  Judge  Douglas  and 
myself  shall  be  silent.  It  is  the  eternal  struggle 
between  these  two  principles — right  and  wrong — 
throughout  the  world.  They  are  the  two  principles 
that  have  stood  face  to  face  from  the  beginning  of 
time,  and  will  ever  continue  to  struggle.  The  one 
is  the  common  right  of  humanity  and  the  other  the 
divine  right  of  kings.  It  is  the  same  principle  in 
whatever  shape  it  develops  itself.  It  is  the  same 
spirit  that  says,  "You  work  and  toil  and  earn  bread 
and  Fll  eat  it."  No  matter  in  what  shape  it  comes, 


104  Capital,  Land  and  Labor 

whether  from  the  mouth  of  a  king  who  seeks  to 
bestride  the  people  of  his  own  nation  and  live  by 
the  fruit  of  their  labor,  or  from  one  race  of  men  as 
an  apology  for  enslaving  another  race,  it  is  the 
same  tyrannical  principle. 

146 

(December  5,  1864,  Annual  Message— Raymond,  p.  635.) 

In  presenting  the  abandonment  of  armed  resist- 
ance to  the  national  authority  on  the  part  of  the  in- 
surgents as  the  only  indispensable  condition  to 
ending  the  war  on  the  part  of  the  government,  I 
retract  nothing  heretofore  said  as  to  slavery.  I  re- 
peat the  declaration  made  a  year  ago  that  while  I 
remain  in  my  present  position  I  shall  not  attempt 
to  retract  or  modify  the  emancipation  proclama- 
tion. Nor  shall  I  return  to  slavery  any  person  who 
is  free  by  the  terms  of  that  proclamation  or  by  any 
act  of  Congress.  If  the  people  should,  by  what- 
ever mode  or  means,  make  it  an  executive  duty  to 
re-enslave  such  persons,  another  and  not  I  must 
be  their  instrument  to  perform  it. 

147 

(March  6,   1860,   Speech  at  New  Haven,  Conn.,    alluding  to  shoe- 
makers' strike— Complete  Works,  Vol.  I,  p.  625.) 

I  am  glad  to  see  that  a  system  of  labor  prevails  in 
New  England  under  which  laborers  can  strike 
when  they  want  to,  where  they  are  not  obliged  to 


Capital,  Land  and  Labor  105 

work  under  all  circumstances,  and  are  not  tied 
down  and  obliged  to  labor  whether  you  pay  them 
or  not.  I  like  the  system  which  lets  a  man  quit 
when  he  wants  to,  and  wish  it  might  prevail  every- 
where. One  of  the  reasons  why  I  am  opposed  to 
slavery  is  just  here.  What  is  the  true  condition  of 
the  laborer?  I  take  it  that  it  is  best  for  all  to  leave 
each  man  free  to  acquire  property  as  fast  as  he- 
can.  Some  will  get  wealthy.  I  don't  believe  in 
law  to  prevent  a  man  from  getting  rich;  it  would 
do  more  harm  than  good.  So  while  we  do  not  pro- 
pose any  war  upon  capital,  we  do  wish  to  allow  the 
humblest  man  an  equal  chance  to  get  rich  with 
everybody  else.  When  one  starts  poor,  as  most 
do  in  the  race  of  life,  free  society  is  such  that  he 
knows  he  can  better  his  condition;  he  knows  that 
there  is  no  fixed  condition  of  labor  for  his  .whole 
life.  I  am  not  ashamed  to  confess  that  twenty-five 
years  ago  I  was  a  hired  laborer,  mauling  rails,  at 
work  on  a  flatboat — just  what  might  happen  to  any 
poor  man's  son.  I  want  every  man  to  have  the 
chance — and  I  believe  a  black  man  is  entitled  to  it — 
in  which  he  can  better  his  condition ;  when  he  may 
look  forward  and  hope  to  be  a  hired  laborer  this 
year  and  the  next,  work  for  himself  afterwards, 
and  finally  to  hire  men  to  work  for  him.  That  is 
the  true  system.  Up  here  in  New  England  you 
have  a  soil  that  scarcely  sprouts  black-eyed  beans, 


io6  Capital,  Land  and  Labor 

and  yet  where  will  you  find  wealthy  men  so 
wealthy,  and  poverty  so  rarely  in  extremity?  There 
is  not  another  such  place  on  earth!  I  desire  that 
if  you  get  too  thick  here,  and  find  it  hard  to  better 
your  condition  on  this  soil,  you  may  have  a  chance 
to  strike  and  go  somewhere  else,  where  you  may 
not  be  degraded,  nor  have  your  family  corrupted 
by  forced  rivalry  with  negro  slaves.  I  want  you 
to  have  a  clean  bed  and  no  snakes  in  it.  Then  you 
can  better  your  condition,  and  so  it  may  go  on  and 
on  in  one  ceaseless  round  so  long  as  man  exists  on 
the  face  of  the  earth. 

148 

(April  18,  1864,   Remarks  at  Sanitary   Fair,   Baltimore,   Md.— Bar- 
rett, p.  477.) 

The  world  is  in  want  of  a  good  definition  of  the 
word  liberty.  We  all  declare  ourselves  to  be  for 
liberty;  but  we  do  not  all  mean  the  same  thing. 
Some  mean  that  a  man  can  do  as  he  pleases  with 
himself  and  his  property.  With  others  it  means 
that  some  men  can  do  as  they  please  with  other 
men  and  other  men's  labor.  Each  of  these  things 
is  called  liberty,  although  they  are  entirely  differ- 
ent. To  give  an  illustration:  A  shepherd  drives 
a  wolf  from  the  throat  of  his  sheep  when  attacked 
by  him,  and  the  sheep  of  course  thanks  the  shep- 
herd for  the  preservation  of  his  life;  but  the  wolf 


Capital)  Land  and  Labor  107 

denounces  him  as  despoiling  the   wolf   of  his  lib- 
erty; especially  if  it  be  a  black  sheep. 

149 

(September  17,  1859,  Speech  at  Cincinnati,  0.— Howells,  p.  148.) 

Our  government  was  not  established  that  one 
man  might  do  with  himself  as  he  pleases,  and  with 
another  man,  too.  I  hold  that  if  there  is  any  one 
thing  that  can  be  proved  to  be  the  will  of  Heaven  by 
external  nature  around  us,  without  reference  to  rev- 
elation, it  is  the  proposition  that  whatever  any  one 
man  earns  with  his  hands  and  by  the  sweat  of  his 
brow,  he  shall  enjoy  in  peace.  I  say  that,  whereas  God 
Almighty  has  given  every  man  one  mouth  to  be 
fed,  and  one  pair  of  hands  adapted  to  furnish  food 
for  that  mouth,  if  anything  can  be  proved  to  be  the 
will  of  Heaven,  it  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  that 
mouth  is  to  be  fed  by  those  hands,  without  being 
interfered  with  by  any  other  man,  who  has  also  his 
mouth  to  feed  and  his  hands  to  labor  with.  I  hold, 
if  the  Almighty  had  ever  made  a  set  of  men  that 
should  do  all  the  eating  and  none  of  the  work,  He 
would  have  made  them  with  mouths  only  and  no 
hands;  and  if  He  had  ever  made  another  class  that 
He  intended  should  do  all  the  work,  and  none  of 
the  eating,  He  would  have  made  them  without 
mouths  and  with  all  hands.  But  inasmuch  as  He 
has  not  chosen  to  make  man  in  that  way,  if  any- 


io8  Capital^  Land  and  Labor 

thing  is  proved  it  is  that  those  hands  and  mouths 
are  to  be  co-operative  through  life  and  not  to  be 
interfered  with.  That  they  are  to  go  forth  and  im- 
prove their  condition,  as  I  have  been  trying  to  il- 
lustrate, is  the  inherent  right  given  to  mankind 
directly  by  the  Maker. 

150 

(Decembers,  1861,  Annual  Message— Complete  Works,  Vol.  II,  p.  105.) 

Monarchy  itself  is  sometimes  hinted  at  as  a  pos- 
sible refuge  from  the  power  of  the  people.  In  my 
present  position  I  could  scarcely  be  justified  were  I 
to  omit  raising  a  warning  voice  against  this  ap- 
proach of  returning  despotism. 

It  is  not  needed  nor  fitting  here  that  a  general 
argument  should  be  made  in  favor  of  popular  in- 
stitutions; but  there  is  one  point,  with  its  connec- 
tions not  so  hackneyed  as  most  others,  to  which  I 
ask  brief  attention.  It  is  the  effort  to  place  capital 
on  an  equal  footing  with,  if  not  above,  labor,  in  the 
structure  of  government.  It  is  assumed  that  labor 
is  available  only  in  connection  with  capital;  that 
nobody  labors  unless  somebody  else  owning  capi- 
tal, somehow  by  the  use  of  it,  induces  him  to  labor. 
*  *  * 

Labor  is  prior  to,  and  independent  of,  capital. 
Capital  is  only  the  fruit  of  labor,  and  could  never 


Capital,  Land  and  Labor  109 

have  existed  if  labor  had  not  first  existed.  Labor 
is  the  superior  of  capital,  and  deserves  much  the 
highest  consideration.  *  *  *  No  men  living 
are  more  worthy  to  be  trusted  than  those  who  toil 
up  from  poverty;  none  less  inclined  to  take  or 
touch  aught  which  they  have  not  honestly  earned. 
Let  them  beware  of  surrendering  a  political  power 
which  they  already  possess,  and  which,  if  surren- 
dered., will  surely  be  used  to  close  the  door  of  ad- 
vancement against  such  as  they,  and  to  fix  new 
disabilities  and  burdens  upon  them  till  all  of  liberty 
shall  be  lost. 

151 

(March  21,  1864,  Reply  to  Committee  of  Workingmen's  Association 
of  New  York— Coffin,  p.  395.) 

The  most  notable  feature  of  the  disturbance  in 
your  city  last  year  was  the  hanging  of  some  work- 
ing people  by  other  working  people.  It  should 
never  be  so.  The  strongest  bond  of  human  sym- 
pathy outside  the  family  relation  should  be  one 
uniting  all  working  people  of  all  nations,  tongues 
and  kindreds;  nor  should  this  lead  to  a  war  on 
property  or  owners  of  property.  Property  is  the 
fruit  of  labor.  It  is  desirable.  It  is  a  positive  good 
to  the  world.  That  some  should  be  rich  shows 
that  others  may  become  rich,  and  hence  is  just  en- 
couragement to  industry  and  enterprise.  Let  not 


1 10  Capital,  Land  and  Labor 

him  who  is  houseless  pull  down  the  house  of  an- 
other, but  let  him  labor  diligently  and  build  one 
for  himself,  thus  by  example  assuring  that  his  own 
shall  be  safe  from  violence  when  built. 

152 

(January  19,   1863,   Reply  to  Workingmen   of  Manchester,   Eng.— 
Raymond,  p.  497.) 

I  know  and  deeply  deplore  the  suffering  which 
the  workingmen  at  Manchester  and  in  all  Europe 
are  called  upon  to  endure  in  this  crisis.  It  has 
been  often  and  studiously  represented  that  the  at- 
tempt to  overthrow  this  government,  which  was 
built  upon  the  foundation  of  human  rights,  and  to 
substitute  for  it  one  which  would  rest  exclusively 
on  the  basis  of  human  slavery,  was  likely  to  obtain 
the  favor  of  Europe. 

Through  the  action  of  our  disloyal  citizens  the 
workingmen  of  Europe  have  been  subject  to  severe 
trials  for  the  purpose  of  forcing  their  sanction  to 
that  attempt.  Under  the  circumstances  I  cannot 
but  regard  your  decisive  utterance  upon  the  ques- 
tion as  an  instance  of  sublime  Christian  heroism 
which  has  not  been  surpassed  in  any  age  or  any 
country.  It  is  indeed  an  energetic  and  reinspiring 
assurance  of  the  inherent  power  of  truth,  and  of  the 
ultimate  and  universal  triumph  of  justice,  humanity 
and  freedom. 


Capital)  Land  and  Labor  in 

153 

(December  1,  1847,  Fragment  of  Speech— Complete  Works,  Vol.  I, 
p.  92.) 

In  the  early  days  of  our  race  the  Almighty  said 
to  the  first  of  our  race,  "In  the  sweat  of  thy  face 
shalt  thou  eat  bread,"  and  since  then,  if  we  except 
the  light  and  air  of  Heaven,  no  good  thing  has  been 
or  can  be  enjoyed  by  us  without  having  first  cost 
labor.  And  inasmuch  as  most  good  things  are 
produced  by  labor,  it  follows  that  all  such  things 
of  right  belong  to  those  whose  labor  has  produced 
them.  But  it  has  so  happened,  in  all  ages  of  the 
world,  that  some  have  labored,  and  others  have, 
without  labor,  enjoyed  a  large  proportion  of  the 
fruits.  This  is  wrong  and  should  not  continue. 
To  secure  to  each  laborer  the  whole  product  of  his 
labor,  or  as  nearly  as  possible,  is  a  worthy  object  of 
any  good  government. 

154 

(September  30,  1859,  Speech  at  Milwaukee,  Wis.— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  582.) 

The  old  general  rule  was  that  educated  people 
did  not  perform  manual  labor.  They  managed  to 
eat  their  bread,  leaving  the  toil  of  producing  it  to 
the  uneducated.  This  was  not  an  insupportable 
evil  to  the  working  bees,  so  long  as  the  class  of 
drones  remained  very  small.  But  now,  especially 
in  these  free  States,  nearly  all  are  educated — quite 


H2  Capital,  Land  and  Labor 

too  nearly  all  to  leave  the  labor  of  the  uneducated 
in  any  wise  adequate  to  the  support  of  the  whole. 
It  follows  from  this  that  henceforth  educated  peo- 
ple must  labor.  Otherwise,  education  itself  would 
become  a  positive  and  intolerable  evil.  No  coun- 
try can  sustain  in  idleness  more  than  a  small  per- 
centage of  its  numbers.  The  great  majority  must 
labor  at  something  productive.  From  these 
premises  the  problem  springs,  "How  can  labor  and 
education  be  the  most  satisfactorily  combined?" 

By  the  "mud-sill'  theory  it  is  assumed  that  labor 
and  education  are  incompatible,  and  any  practical 
combination  of  them  impossible.  According  to 
that  theory  a  blind  horse  upon  a  tread-mill  is  a  per- 
fect illustration  of  what  a  laborer  should  be — all  the 
better  for  being  blind,  that  he  could  not  kick  under- 
standingly.  According  to  that  theory,  the  educa- 
tion of  laborers  is  not  only  useless  but  pernicious 
and  dangerous.  In  fact,  it  is,  in  some  sort,  deemed 
a  misfortune  that  laborers  should  have  heads  at  all. 
Those  same  heads  are  regarded  as  explosive  ma- 
terials, only  to  be  safely  kept  in  damp  places  as  far 
as  possible  from  that  peculiar  sort  of  fire  which 
ignites  them.  A  Yankee  who  could  invent  a 
strong-handed  man  without  a  head  would  receive 
the  everlasting  gratitude  of  the  mud-sill  advocates. 

But  free  labor  says  "No."  Free  labor  argues 
that  as  the  Author  of  man  makes  every  individual 
with  one  head  and  one  pair  of  hands,. it  was  proba- 


Capital \  Land  and  Labor  113 

bly  intended  that  heads  and  hands  should  co-oper- 
ate as  friends,  and  that  that  particular  head  should 
direct  and  control  that  pair  of  hands.  As  each 
man  has  one  mouth  to  be  fed,  and  one  pair  of 
hands  to  furnish  the  food, -it  was  probably  intended 
that  that  particular  pair  of  hands  should  feed  that 
particular  mouth — that  each  head  is  the  natural 
guardian,  director  arid  protector  of  the  hands  and 
mouth  inseparably  connected  with  it,  and  that  being 
so,  every  head  should  be  cultivated  and  improved 
by  whatever  will  add  to  its  capacity  for  performing 
its  charge.  In  one  .word,  free  labor  insists  on  uni- 
versal education. 

155 

(March  4,  1865,  Second  Inaugural— Hapgood,  p.  403.) 

It  may  seem  strange  that  any  men  should  dare 
to  ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in  wringing  bread 
from  the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces. 

156 

(May  30,  1864,  From  Letter  to  Dr.  Ide  and  Others— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  II,  p.  526.) 

To  read  in  the  Bible,  as  the  Word  of  God  Him- 
self, that  "In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat 
bread,"  and  to  preach  therefrom  that  "In  the  sweat 
of  other  men's  faces  shalt  thou  eat  bread,"  to  my 
mind  can  scarcely  be  reconciled  with  honest  sin- 
cerity. When  brought  to  my  final  reckoning,  may 


H4  Capital i  Land  and  Labor 

I  have  to  answer  for  robbing  no  man  of  his  goods; 
yet  more  tolerable  even  this,  than  for  robbing  one 
of  himself  and  all  that  was  his.  When  a  year  or 
two  ago  those  professedly  holy  men  of  the  South 
met  in  the  semblance  of  prayer  and  devotion,  and 
in  the  name  of  Him  who  said,  "As  ye  would  all 
men  should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  unto  them," 
appealed  to  the  Christian  world  to  aid  them  in  doing 
to  a  whole  race  of  men  as  they  would  have  no  man 
do  unto  themselves,  to  my  thinking  they  con- 
temned and  insulted  God  and  His  church  far  more 
than  did  Satan  when  he  tempted  the  Saviour  with 
the  kingdoms  of  the  earth.  The  devil's  attempt 
was  no  more  false,  and  far  less  hypocritical. 

157 

(September  17,   1859,    Speech  at   Cincinnati,    O.— Debates,   p.    267.) 

Labor  is  the  great  source  from  which  nearly  all, 
if  not  all,  human  comforts  and  necessities  are 
drawn.  There  is  a  difference  in  opinion  about  the 
elements  of  labor  in  society.  Some  men  assume 
that  there  is  a  necessary  connection  between  capital 
and  labor,  and  that  connection  draws  within  it  the 
whole  of  the  labor  of  the  community.  They  as- 
sume that  nobody  works  unless  capital  excites  them 
to  work.  They  begin  next  to  consider  what  is  the 
best  way.  They  say  there  are  but  two  ways — one 
is  to  hire  men  and  to  allure  them  to  labor  by  their 


Capital,  Land  and  Labor  115 

:onsent;  the  other  is  to  buy  the  men  and  drive 
hem  to  it,  and  that  is  slavery.  Having  assumed 
:hat,  they  proceed  to  discuss  the  question  of 
whether  the  laborers  themselves  are  better  off  in 
:he  condition  of  slaves  or  of  hired  laborers,  and 
:hey  usually  decide  that  they  are  better  off  in  the 
:ondition  of  slaves.  In  the  first  place,  I  say  that 
;he  whole  thing  is  a  mistake.  That  there  is  a  cer- 
:ain  relation  between  capital  and  labor  I  admit. 
Fhat  it  does  exist,  and  rightfully  exists,  I  think  is 
:rue.  That  men  who  are  industrious  and  sober  and 
lonest  in  the  pursuit  of  their  own  interests  should 
ifter  awhile  accumulate  capital,  and  after  that 
should  be  allowed  to  enjoy  it  in  peace,  and  also,  if 
:hey  should  choose,  when  they  have  accumulated  it, 
to  use  it  to  save  themselves  from  actual  labor,  and 
liire  other  people  to  labor  for  them,  is  right.  In 
doing  so  they  do  not  wrong  the  men  they  employ, 
for  they  find  men  who  have  not  their  own  land  to 
work  upon,  or  shops  to  work  in,  and  who  are  bene- 
fited by  working  for  others — hired  laborers,  receiv- 
ing their  capital  for  it.  Thus  a  few  men  who  own 
capital  hire  a  few  others,  and  these  establish  the  re- 
lation of  capital  and  labor  rightfully — a  relation  of 
which  I  make  no  complaint.  But  I  insist  that  that 
relation,  after  all,  does  not  embrace  more  than  one- 
eighth  of  the  labor  of  the  country. 


1 1 6  Capital,  Land  and  Labor 

158 

(January,  1837,  Speech,  Legislature  of  Illinois— Tarbell,  2v,  p.  281.) 

These  capitalists  generally  act  harmoniously  and 
in  concert,  to  fleece  the  people,  and  now,  that  they 
have  got  into  a  quarrel  with  themselves,  we  are 
called  upon  to  appropriate '  the  people's  money  to 
settle  the  quarrel. 

159 

(1856— History  of  Abraham  Lincoln— Arnold,  p.  97.) 

We  will  hereafter  speak  for  freedom  and  against 
slavery,  as  long  as  the  Constitution  guarantees  free 
speech;  until  everywhere  on  this  wide  land  the  sun 
shall  shine,  and  the  rain  shall  fall,  and  the  wind1 
shall  blow  upon  no  man  who  goes  forth  to  unre- 
quited toil. 


FOREIGN  POLICY  AND  EXPANSION. 
160 

(September  30,  1859,  Speech  at  Milwaukee,  Wis.— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  576.) 

To  correct  the  evils,  great  and  small,  which 
spring  from  want  of  sympathy  and  from  positive 
enmity  among  strangers,  as  nations  or  as  individ- 
uals, is  one  of  the  highest  functions  of  civilization. 

161 

(February  15,   1848,    Letter  to   W.   H.   Herndon— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  111.) 

Allow  the  President  to  invade  a  neighboring  na- 
tion whenever  he  shall  deem  it  necessary  to  repel 
an  invasion,  and  you  allow  him  to  do  so  whenever 
he  may  choose  to  say  he  deems  it  necessary  for 
such  purpose,  and  you  allow  him  to  make  war  at 
pleasure.  Study  to  see  if  you  can  fix  a  limit  to  his 
power  in  this  respect,  after  having  given  him  so 
much  as  you  propose.  If  to-day  he  should  choose 
to  say  he  thinks  it  necessary  to  invade  Canada  to 
prevent  the  British  from  invading  us,  how  could 
you  stop  him?  You  may  say  to  him,  "I  see  no 
probability  of  the  British  invading  us,"  but  he  will 
say  to  you,  "Be  silent;  I  see  it  if  you  don't." 

117 


1 1 8  Foreign  Policy  and  Expansion 

162 

(November  15,  1861,  Conversation  with  Benson  J.  Lossing  con- 
cerning the  capture  of  Mason  and  Slidell,  Confederate  com- 
missioners, upon  the  British  vessel,  Trent— Tarbell,  Vol.  II, 
P.  72.) 

We  must  stick  to  American  principles  concern- 
ing the  right  of  neutrals.  We  fought  Great  Britain 
for  insisting  by  theory  and  practice  on  the  right  to 
do  exactly  what  Captain  Wilkes  has  done.  If 
Great  Britain  shall  now  protest  against  the  act  and 
demand  their  release,  we  must  give  them  up,  apolo- 
gize for  the  act  as  a  violation  of  our  doctrine,  and 
thus  forever  bind  her  over  to  keep  the  peace  in  re- 
lation to  neutrals,  and  so  acknowledge  that  she  has 
been  wrong  for  sixty  years. 

163 

(September  18,  1858,  Speech  at  Charlestown,  111.— Debates,  p.  158.) 

Whenever  there  was  an  attempt  to  procure  a 
vote  of  mine  which  would  indorse  the  origin 
and  justice  of  the  war  (Mexican),  I  refused  to  give 
such  indorsement  and  voted  against  it;  but  I  never 
voted  against  the  supplies  for  the  army. 

164 

(February  1,  1848,  Letter  to  W.  H.  Herndon  referring  to  Lincoln's 
vote  in  Congress— Herndon,  p.  281.) 

That  vote  affirms  that  the  (Mexican)  war  was 
unnecessarily  and  unconstitutionally  commenced 
by  the  President,  and  I  will  stake  my  life,  if  you  had 


Foreign  Policy  and  Expansion  119 

been  in  my  place,  you  would  have  voted  just  as  I 
did.  Would  you  have  voted  what  you  felt  and 
knew  to  be  a  lie?  I  know  you  would  not.  Would 
you  have  gone  out  of  the  House — skulked  the  vote? 
I  expect  not.  If  you  had  skulked  one  vote,  you 
would  have  had  to  skulk  many  more  before  the 
close  of  the  session.  Richardson's  resolutions, 
introduced  before  I  made  any  move,  or  gave  any 
vote  upon  the  subject,  made  the  direct  question  of 
the  justice  of  the  war,  so  that  no  man  can  be  silent 
if  he  would.  You  are  compelled  to  speak;  and 
your  only  alternative  is  to  tell  the  truth  or  tell  a  lie. 

165 

(August  21,  1858,  Speech    at    Ottawa,    I1L— Debates,    p.    75.) 

You  remember  I  was  an  Old  Whig,  and  when- 
ever the  Democratic  party  tried  to  get  me  to  vote 
that  the  war  had  been  righteously  begun  by  the 
President,  I  would  not  do  it.  But  whenever  they 
asked  for  any  money,  or  land-warrants,  or  anything 
to  pay  the  soldiers  there,  during  all  that  time,  I 
gave  the  same  vote  Judge  Douglas  did.  You  can 
think  as  you  please  as  to  whether  that  was  consist- 
ent. Such  is  the  truth;  and  the  Judge  has  the  right 
to  make  all  he  can  out  of  it.  But  when  he,  by  a 
general  charge,  conveys  the  idea  that  I  withheld 
supplies  from  the  soldiers  who  were  fighting  the 
Mexican  War,  or  did  anything  else  to  hinder  the 


j  20  Foreign  Policy  and  Expansion 

soldiers,  he  is,  to  say  the  least,  grossly  and  alto- 
gether mistaken,  as  a  consultation  of  the  records 
will  prove  him. 

166 

(February  1,  1861,  Letter  to  W.  H.  Seward— Complete  Works,  Vol. 
I,   p.    669.) 

I  say  now,  however,  as  I  have  all  the  while  said, 
that  on  the  territorial  question — that  is,  of  extend- 
ing slavery  under  the  national  auspices — I  am  in- 
flexible. I  am  for  no  compromise  which  assists  or 
permits  the  extension  of  the  institution  on  soil 
owned  by  the  nation.  And  any  trick  by  which  the 
nation  is  to  acquire  territory,  and  then  to  allow 
some  local  authority  to  spread  slavery  over  it,  is 
as  obnoxious  as  any  other.  I  take  it  that  to  effect 
some  such  result  as  this,  and  put  us  again  on  the 
high  road  to  a  slave  empire,  is  the  object  of  all  these 
proposed  compromises.  I  am  against  it. 

167 

(February  22,   1860,  Lecture  on  Discoveries  and  Inventions— Com- 
plete Works,  Vol.  I,  p.  523.) 

As  Plato  had  for  the  immortality  of  soul,  so 
Young  America  has  "a  pleasing  hope,  a  fond  de- 
sire,— a  longing  after"  territory.  He  has  a  great 
passion — a  perfect  rage — for  the  "new,"  particu- 
larly new  men  for  office,  and  the  new  earth  men- 
tioned in  the  Revelations,  in  which,  being  no  more 


Foreign  Policy  and  Expansion  121 

sea,  there  must  be  about  three  times  as  much  land 
as  in  the  present.  He  is  a  great  friend  of  human- 
ity, and  his  desire  for  land  is  not  selfish,  but  merely 
an  impulse  to  extend  the  area  of  freedom.  He  is 
very  anxious  to  fight  for  the  liberation  of  enslaved 
nations  and  colonies,  provided,  always,  they  have 
land,  and  have  not  any  liking  for  his  interference. 
As  to  those  who  have  no  land,  and  would  be  glad 
of- help  from  any  quarter,  he  considers  they  can 
afford  to  wait  a  few  hunderd  years  longer.  In 
knowledge  he  is  particularly  rich.  He  knows  all 
that  can  possibly  be  known;  inclines  to  believe  in 
spiritual  rappings,  and  is  the  unquestioned  inventor 
of  Manifest  Destiny. 

168 

(October  7,   1858,   Speech   at  Galesburg,   111.— Debates,   p.    187.) 

We  have  no  clear  and  certain  way  of  determining 
or  demonstrating  how  fast  territory  is  needed  by 
the  necessities  of  the  country.  Whoever  wants  to 
go  out  filibustering,  then,  thinks  that  more  terri- 
tory is  needed.  Whoever  wants  wider  slave-fields 
feels  sure  that  some  additional  territory  is  needed 
as  slave  territory.  Then  it  is  easy  to  show  the 
necessity  of  additional  slave  territory  as  it  is  to  as- 
sert anything  that  is  incapable  of  absolute  demon- 
stration. Whatever  motive  a  man  or  a  set  of  men 
have  for  making  annexation  of  property  or  terri- 


122  Foreign  Policy  and  Expansion 

tory,  it  is  very  easy  to  assert,  but  much  less  easy 
to  disprove,  that  it  is  necessary  for  the  wants  of 
the  country.  And  now  it  only  remains  for  me  to 
say  that  I  think  it  a  very  grave  question  for  the 
people  of  this  Union  to  consider,  whether  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  this  slavery  question  has  been  the 
only  one  that  has  ever  endangered  our  republican 
institutions — the  only  one  that  has  ever  threatened 
or  menaced  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  that  has 
ever  disturbed  us  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  us  fear 
for  the  perpetuity  of  our  liberty — in  view  of  these 
facts,  I  think  it  is  an  exceedingly  interesting  and 
important  question  for  this  people  to  consider 
whether  we  shall  engage  in  the  policy  of  acquiring 
additional  territory,  discarding  altogether  from  our 
consideration,  while  obtaining  new  territory,  the 
question  how  it  may  effect  us  in  regard  to  this,  the 
only  endangering  element  to  our  liberties  and  na- 
tional greatness. 

169 

(December  3,  1861,  Annual  Message— Raymond,  p    222.) 

To  carry  out  the  plan  of  colonization  may  in- 
volve the  acquiring  of  territory  and  also  the  appro- 
priation of  money  beyond  that  to  be  expended  in 
the  territorial  acquisition.  Having  practiced  the 
acquisition  of  territory  for  nearly  sixty  years  the 
question  of  constitutional  power  to  do  so  is  no 


Foreign  Policy  and  Expansion  123 

longer  an  open  one  with  us.  The  power  was  ques- 
tioned at  first  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  who,  however,  in 
the  purchase  of  Louisiana  yielded  his  scruples  on  the 
plea  of  great  expediency.  If  it  be  said  that  the 
only  legitimate  object  of  acquiring  territory  is  to 
furnish  homes  for  white  men,  this  measure  effects 
that  object;  for  the  emigration  of  colored  men 
leaves  additional  room  for  the  white  men  remaining 
or  coming  here.  Mr.  Jefferson,  however,  placed  the 
importance  of  procuring  Louisiana  more  on  politi- 
cal and  commercial  grounds  than  on  providing 
room  for  population. 


MONEY,  GREENBACKS,  SILVER   AND 

GOLD. 

170 

(August    31.    1864,    Speech  to  the  148th  Ohio  Regiment  concerning 
the  duty  of  maintaining  the  government — Van  Buren,  p.  382.) 

I  beg  of  you  not  to  allow  your  minds  or  your 
hearts  to  be  diverted  from  the  support  of  all  neces- 
sary measures  for  the  purpose  by  any  miserable 
picayune  arguments  addressed  to  your  pockets  or 
inflammatory  appeal  made  to  your  passions  and 
your  prejudices. 

171 

(December  6,  1864,  Annual  Message— Raymond,  p.  629.) 

It  seems  quite  clear  that  the  treasury  cannot  be 
successfully  conducted  unless  the  government  can 
exercise  a  restraining  power  over  the  bank-note 
circulation  of  the  country. 

172 

(October    12,    1864,  interview  with  D.  R.  Locke— Coffin,  p.  462.) 

I  cannot  understand  why  men  should  be  so  eager 
after  money.  Wealth  is  simply  a  superfluity  of  what 
we  don't  need. 

125 


126  Money  >  Greenbacks ',  Silver  and  Gold 

173 

(November  10,  1864,  Speech  at  a  Serenade— Barrett,  p.  662.) 

Gold  is  good  enough  in  its  place,  but  living,  brave, 
patriotic  men  are  better  than  gold. 
174 

(December  20,   1839,   Speech  at  Springfield,   111.— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  25.) 

No  duty  is  more  imperative  on  the  government 
than  the  duty  it  owes  the  people  of  furnishing  them 
a  sound  and  uniform  currency. 

175 

(December  20,  1839,   Speech  at  Springfield,   111.— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  22.) 

Any  person  who  will  reflect  that  money  is  only 
valuable  while  in  circulation,  will  readily  perceive 
that  any  device  which  will  keep  the  government 
revenues  in  constant  circulation,  instead  of  being 
locked  up  in  idleness,  is  no  inconsiderable  advant- 
age. 

176 

(November  10,   1860,   Letter  to  Truman  Smith— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  654.) 

I  am  not  insensible  to  any  commercial  or  financial 
depression  that  may  exist,  but  nothing  is  to  be 
gained  by  fawning  around  the  "respectable  scoun- 
drels" who  got  it  up.  Let  them  go  to  work  and 


Money,  Greenbacks,  Silver  and  Gold  127 

repair  the  mischief  of  their  own  making,  and  then, 
perhaps,  they  will  be  less  greedy  to  do  the  like 
again. 

177 

(December  1,  1862,  Annual  Message— Raymond,  p.  347.) 

Fluctuations  in  the  volume  of  currency  are  al- 
ways injurious,  and  to  reduce  these  fluctuations  to 
the  lowest  possible  point  will  always  be  a  leading 
purpose  in  wise  legislation. 

178 

(December   20,   1839,  Speech  at  Springfield,  111.— The  Money  Ques- 
tion—Shibley,    p.  114.) 

When  one  hundred  millions,  or  more,  of  the  circu- 
lation we  now  have  shall  be  withdrawn,  who  can  con- 
template without  terror  the  distress,  ruin,  bankrupt- 
cy and  beggary  that  must  follow.  The  man  who  has 
purchased  an  article — say  a  horse — on  credit,  at 
one  hundred  dollars,  when  there  are  two  hundred 
millions  circulating  in  the  country,  if  the  quantity 
be  reduced  to  one  hundred  millions  by  the  arrival 
of  pay  day,  will  (other  conditions  remaining  the 
same)  find  the  horse  but  sufficient  to  pay  half  the 
debt  and  the  other  half  must  either  be  paid  out  of 
his  other  means,  and  thereby  become  a  clear  loss 
to  him,  or  go  unpaid  and  thereby  become  a  clear 
loss  to  the  creditor. 

What  I  have  here  said  of  a  single  case  of  the 


128  .•       Money r,  Greenbacks,  Silver  and  Gold 

purchase  of  a  horse  will  hold  good  in  every  case 
of  debt  existing  at  the  time  a  reduction  in  the  quan- 
tity of  money  occurs,  by  whomsoever  and  for  what- 
soever it  may  have  been  contracted.  It  may  be  said 
that  what  the  debtor  loses  the  creditor  gains  by  this 
operation,  but  on  examination  this  will  be  found 
true  only  to  a  very  limited  extent.  It  is  more  gen- 
erally true  that  all  lose  by  it — the  creditor  losing 
more  of  his  debts  than  he  gains  by  the  increased 
value  of  those  he  collects;  the  debtor  by  either 
parting  with  more  of  his  property  to  pay  his  debts 
than  he  received  in  contracting  them,  or  by  entirely 
breaking  up  his  business,  and  thereby  being  thrown 
upon  the  world  in  idleness. 

The  general  distress  thus  created  will,  to  be 
sure,  be  temporary,  because  whatever  change  may 
occur  in  the  quantity  of  money  in  any  community, 
time  will  adjust  the  derangement  produced,  but 
while  adjustment  is  progressing  all  suffer  more  or 
less  and  very  many  lose  everything  that  renders 
life  desirable. 

179 

(June  20,  1848,  Speech  at  Springfield,  111.— Raymond,  p.  36.) 

I  would  not  borrow  money.  I  am  against  an 
overwhelming  crushing  system.  Suppose  that  at 
each  session  Congress  shall  first  determine  how 
much  money  can,  for  that  year,  be  spared  for  im- 
provements; then  apportion  that  sum  to  the  most 


Money,  Greenbacks,  Silver  and  Gold  129 

important  objects.  *  *  *  The  prelimited 
amount  of  means  will  save  us  from  doing  too  much 
and  the  statistics  will  save  us  from  doing  what  we 
do  in  the  wrong  places. 

180 

(December  20.  1839,  Speech  at  Springfield,  111.,  Speaking  of  the 
reports  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  28.) 

Reports  to  be  sure  he  will  have,  but  reports 
are  often  false,  and  always  false  when  made 
by  a  knave  to  cloak  his  knavery.  Long  ex- 
perience has  shown  that  nothing  short  of  an  actual 
demand  of  the  money  will  expose  an  adroit  pecu- 
lator. Ask  him  for  reports,  and  he  will  give  them 
to  your  heart's  content;  send  agents  to  examine 
and  count  the  money  in  his  hands,  and  he  will  bor- 
row of  a  friend,  merely  to  be  counted  and  then  re- 
turned, a  sufficient  sum  to  make  the  sum  square. 
Try  what  you  will,  it  will  all  fail  till  you  demand 
the  money;  then,  and  not  till  then,  the  truth  will 
come. 

181 

(April  14,  1865,  Message  to  Miners  of  the  West— Barrett,  p.  836.) 

Mr.  Colfax,  I  want  you  to  take  a  message  from 
me  to  the  miners  whom  you  visit.  I  have  very  large 
ideas  of  the  mineral  wealth  of  our  nation.  I  believe 
it  is  practically  inexhaustible.  It  abounds  all  over 


130  Money  y  Greenbacks,  Silver  and  Gold 

the  Western  country  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to 
the  Pacific  and  its  development  has  scarcely  com- 
menced. 

During  the  war  while  we  were  adding  a  couple 
million  dollars  every  day  to  our  debt,  I  did  not  care 
about  encouraging  the  increase  in  the  volume  of 
our  precious  metals.  We  had  the  country  to  save 
first.  But  now  that  the  Rebellion  is  overthrown, 
and  we  know  pretty  nearly  the  amount  of  our  na- 
tional debt,  the  more  gold  and  silver  we  mine,  we 
make  the  payment  of  that  debt  so  much  the  easier. 
Now,  I  am  going  to  encourage  that  in  every  pos- 
sible way.  We  shall  have  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  disbanded  soldiers,  and  many  have  feared  that 
their  return  home  in  such  great  numbers  might 
paralyze  industry  by  furnishing  suddenly  a  greater 
supply  of  labor  than  there  will  be  demand  for.  I 
am  going  to  try  and  attract  them  to  the  hidden 
wealth  of  our  mountain  ranges,  where  there  is  room 
enough  for  all.  Immigration,  which  even  during 
the  war  has  not  stopped,  will  land  on  our  shores 
hundreds  of  thousands  more,  per  year,  from  over- 
crowded Europe.  I  intend  to  point  them  to  the  gold 
and  silver  that  wait  for  them  in  the  West. 

Tell  the  miners  for  me  that  I  shall  promote 
their  interest  to  the  utmost  of  my  ability,  because 
their  prosperity  is  the  prosperity  of  the  nation,  and 
we  shall  prove  in  a  very  few  years  that  we  are  indeed 
the  treasury  of  the  world. 


Money  >  Greenbacks,  Silver  and  Gold  131 

182 

(April  14,   1865,  To  Schuyler  Coif  ax— Coffin,  p.  515.) 

You  are  going  to  the  Pacific  coast  (said  Mr. 
Lincoln  to  Mr.  Colfax.,  just  as  he  started  for  Ford's 
theater).  Do  not  forget  to  tell  the  people  in  the 
mining  regions  what  I  told  you  this  morning  about 
their  development.  Good-bye. 

183 

(Conversation  with   Ward  Hill   Lamon— Recollections  by  Lamon, 
p.    215.    Gives    description    of   making   greenbacks.) 

Yes,  I  think  it  is  about — as  the  lawyer  would 
say — in  the  following  manner,  to-wit :  The  engraver 
strikes  off  the  sheets,  passes  them  over  to  the  regis- 
ter of  currency,  who  places  his  earmarks  upon  them, 
signs  them,  hands  them  over  to  Father  Spinner,  who 
then  places  his  wonderful  signature  at*  the  bottom 
and  turns  them  over  to  Mr.  Chase,  who,  as  secretary 
of  the  United  States  treasury,  issues  them  to  the 
public  as  money — and  may  the  good  Lord  help  any 
fellow  that  doesn't  take  all  he  can  honestly  get  of 
them. 

184 

(December,  1864,  Letter  to  Edmund  D.  Taylor,  of  Chicago,  111.— 
Van  Buren,  p.  404.) 

My  Dear  Colonel  Dick:  I  have  long  determined 
to  make  public  the  origin  of  the  greenback  and  tell 
the  world  that  it  is  one  of  Dick  Taylor's  creations. 


132  Money ,  Greenbacks }  Silver  and  Gold 

You  have  always  been  friendly  to  me  and  when 
troublous  times  fell  upon  us  and  my  shoulders, 
though  broad  and  willing,  were  weak,  and  myself 
surrounded  by  such  circumstances  and  such  people 
that  I  knew  not  whom  to  trust;  then  I  said  in  my 
extremity,  "I  will  send  for  Col.  Taylor,  he  will 
know  what  to  do."  I  think  it  was  in  January,  1862, 
on  or  about  the  i6th,  that  I  did  so.  You  came  and 
I  said  to  you  " What  can  we  do?"  Said  you:  "Why, 
issue  treasury  notes,  bearing  no  interest,  printed  on 
the  best  banking  paper.  Issue  enough  to  pay  off  the 
army  expenses  and  declare  it  legal  tender."  Chase 
thought  it  a  hazardous  thing,  but  we  finally  accom- 
plished it  and  gave  it  to  the  people  of  this  republic, 
the  greatest  blessing  they  ever  had — their  own 
paper  to  pay  their  own  debts. 

It  is  due  to  you,  the  father  of  the  present  green- 
back, that  the  people  should  know  it,  and  I  take 
great  pleasure  in  making  it  known.  How  many 
times  have  I  laughed  at  you  telling  me  plainly  that 
I  was  too  lazy  to  be  anything  but  a  lawyer.  Yours 
truly.  A.  Lincoln,  President. 

185 

(November  21,  1864,  Wm.  F.  Elkin— Shibley,  p.  282.) 

Yes,  we  may  all  congratulate  ourselves  that  this 
cruel  war  is  nearing  its  close.  It  has  cost  a  vast 
amount  of  treasure  and  blood.  The  best  blood  of 


Money )  Greenbacks >  Silver  and  Gola  133 

the  flower  of  American  youth  has  been  freely  offered 
upon  our  country's  altar  that  the  nation  might  live. 
It  has  been  indeed  a  trying  hour  for  the  republic; 
but  I  see  in  the  near  future  a  crisis  approaching  that 
unnerves  me  and  causes  me  to  tremble  for  the  safety 
of  my  country. 

As  a  result  of  the  war,  corporations  have  been 
enthroned  and  an  era  of  corruption  in  high  places 
will  follow,  and  the  money  power  of  the  country 
will  endeavor  to  prolong  its  reign  by  working  upon 
the  prejudices  of  the  people  until  all  wealth  is  ag- 
gregated in  a  few  hands,  and  the  Republic  is  de- 
stroyed. I  feel  at  this  moment  more  anxiety  for 
the  safety  of  my  country  than  ever  before,  even  in 
the  midst  of  war.  God  grant  that  my  suspicions  may 
prove  groundless. 


TAKIFP. 
186 

(May  12,   1860,   Letter  to  Dr.   Edward   Wallace— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I.  p.  634.) 

I  now  think  the  tariff  question  ought  not  to  be 
agitated  at  the  Chicago  convention,  but  that  all 
should  be  satisfied  on  that  point  with  a  Presidential 
candidate  whose  antecedents  give  assurance  that 
he  would  neither  seek  to  force  a  tariff  law  by  execu- 
tive influence,  nor  yet  to  arrest  a  reasonable  one  by_ 
a  veto  or  otherwise.  Just  such  a  candidate  I  desire 
shall  be  put  in  nomination. 

187 

(October  11,  1859,  Letter  to  Dr.  Edward  Wallace— Complete  Works, 
Vol.   I.  p.  584.) 

I  have  not  since  changed  my  views.  I  believe  yet, 
if  we  could  have  a  moderate,  carefully  adjusted  pro- 
tective tariff,  so  far  acquiesced  in  as  not  to  be  a  per- 
petual subject  of  political  strife,  squabbles,  changes, 
and  uncertainties  it  would  be  better  for  us.  Still  it 
is  my  opinion  that  just  now  the  revival  of  that  ques- 
tion will  not  advance  the  cause  itself  or  the  man 
who  revives  it. 


135 


I36  Tariff 

188 

(February   15,   1861,    Speech   at   Pittsburg,    Pa.— Complete   Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  679.) 

We  should  do  neither  more  nor  less  than  we 
gave  the  people  reason  to  believe  we  would  when 
they  gave  us  their  votes.  *  *  *  I  therefore 
would  rather  recommend  to  every  gentleman  who 
knows  he  is  to  be  a  member  of  the  next  Congress 
to  take  an  enlarged  view,  and  post  himself  thor- 
oughly so  as  to  contribute  his  part  to  such  an 
adjustment  of  the  tariff  as  shall  produce  a  sufficient 
revenue,  and  in  its  other  bearings,  so  far  as  possible, 
be  just  and  equal  to  all  sections  of  the  country 
and  classes  of  the  people. 

189 

(March  6,   1860,   Speech  at  New  Haven,   Conn.— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  617.) 

The  old  question  of  tariff — a  matter  that  will 
remain  one  of  the  chief  affairs  of  national  house- 
keeping to  all  time;  the  question  of  the  manage- 
ment of  financial  affairs;  the  question  of  the  dis- 
position of  the  public  domain;  how  shall  it  be 
managed  for  the  purpose  of  getting  it  well  settled, 
and  of  making  there  the  homes  of  a  free  and  happy 
people — these  will  remain  open  and  require  atten- 
tion for  a  great  while  yet,  and  these  questions  will 
have  to  be  attended  to  by  whatever  party  has  the 
control  of  the  government. 


Tariff  137 

190 

(February  15,  1861,  Speech  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.— Van  Buren,  p.  28.) 

Assuming  that  direct  taxation  is  not  to  be 
adopted,  the  tariff  question  must  be  as  durable  as 
the  government  itself.  It  is  a  question  of  national 
housekeeping.  It  is  to  the  government  what  re- 
plenishing the  meal-tub  is  to  the  family.  Ever- 
varying  circumstances  will  require  frequent  modi- 
fications as  to  the  amount  needed  and  the  sources 
of  supply.  So  far  there  is  little  difference  of  opinion 
among  the  people.  *  *  *  I  therefore  would 
rather  recommend  to  every  gentleman  who  knows 
he  is  to  be  a  member  of  the  next  Congress  to  take 
an  enlarged  view  and  post  himself  thoroughly  so 
as  to  contribute  his  part  to  such  an  adjustment  of 
the  tariff  as  shall  produce  a  sufficient  revenue,  and, 
in  its  other  bearings,  so  far  as  possible,  be  just  and 
equal  to  all  sections  of  the  country  and  classes  of 
the  people. 


PARTY  POLICY. 
191 

(1861,  Interview  with  Senator  Maynard— Herndon,   p.   508.) 

I  shall  go  just  as  fast  and  only  as  fast  as  I 
think  I'm  right  and  the  people  are  ready  for  the 
step. 

192 

(November  20,  1863,    In  letter   to   Z.    Chandler— Complete  Works, 
Vol.   II,    p.   440.) 

I  hope  to  "stand  firm"  enough  not  to  go  back- 
ward, and  yet  not  go  forward  fast  enough  to  wreck 
the  country's  cauee. 

193 

(July  28,  1859,  From  letter  to  S.  Galloway— Complete  Works,  Vol. 
I,  P.  537.) 

No  party  can  command  respect  which  sustains 
this  year  what  it  opposed  last. 

194 

(Hapgood,   p.   351— In   regard   to   political   quarrels.) 

I  am  in  favor  of  short  statutes  of  limitations  in 
politics. 

195 

(June  6,  1864,  Indorsement  on  Letter— Complete  Works,  Vol.  II,  p. 

528.) 

I    wish    not    to    interfere    about    vice-president. 

139 


Party  Policy 

Cannot  interfere  about  platform.    Convention  must 
judge  for  itself. 

196 

(September  17,  1858,  Answer  to  friends  who  advised  him  not  to  use 
the  famous  sentence,  "A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot 
stand."— Herndon,  p.  400.) 

If  it  is  decreed  that  I  should  go  down  because  of 
this  speech,  then  let  me  go  down  linked  to  the 
truth — let  me  die  in  the  advocacy  of  what  is  just 
and  right. 

197 

(June,  1856,  Speech  at  Springfield,  111.,  in  ratification  meeting  of 
the  Bloomington  Convention— two  other  persons  only,  being 
present.— Herndon,  p.  386.) 

While  all  seems  dead,  the  age  itself  is  not.  It 
liveth  as  sure  as  our  Maker  liveth.  Under  all  this 
seeming  want  of  life  and  motion,  the  world  does 
move  nevertheless.  Be  hopeful,  and  now  let  us 
adjourn  and  appeal  to  the  people. 

198 

(1855,  Advice  to  Free-Soilers  of  Springfield,  111.,  who  talked  of 
using  force.— Herndon,  p.  380.) 

You  can  better  succeed  with  the  ballot.  You 
can  peaceably  then  redeem  the  government  and  pre- 
serve the  liberties  of  mankind  through  your  votes 
and  voice  and  moral  influence.  *  *  *  Let  there 
be  peace.  Revolutionize  through  the  ballot-box, 
and  restore  the  government  once  more  to  the  affec- 
tions and  hearts  of  men  by  making  it  express,  as  it 


Party  Policy 

was  in 
liberty 


was  intended  to  do,  the  highest  spirit  of  justice  and 
t. 


199 


(May  29,  1856,  Speech  at  Bloomington  Convention—  Life  of  Lincoln. 
Tarbell,  Vol.  I,  p.  298.) 

In  grave  emergencies  moderation  is  generally 
safer  than  radicalism.  *  *  *  As  it  now  stands 
we  must  appeal  to  the  sober  sense  and  patriotism 
of  the  people.  We  will  make  converts  day  by  day; 
we  will  grow  stronger  by  calmness  and  moderation; 
we  will  grow  strong  by  the  violence  and  injustice  of 
our  adversaries;  and  unless  truth  be  a  mockery 
and  justice  a  hollow  lie  we  will  be  in  the  majority 
after  awhile,  and  then  the  revolution  which  we  will 
accomplish  will  be  none  the  less  radical  from 
being  the  result  of  pacific  measures. 

200 

(March  6,   1860,   Speech  at  New  Haven,   Conn.—  Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I.  p.  620.) 

If  I  saw  a  venomous  snake  crawling  in  the  road, 
any  man  would  say  I  might  seize  the  nearest  stick 
and  kill  it;  but  if  I  found  that  snake  in  bed  with 
my  children,  that  would  be  another  question.  I 
might  hurt  the  children  more  than  the  snake,  and 
it  might  bite  them.  Much  more,  if  I  found  it  in 
bed  with  my  neighbor's  children,  and  I  had  bound 
myself  by  a  solemn  compact  not  to  meddle  with  his 
children  under  any  circumstances,  it  would  become 


1 42  Party  Policy 

me  to  let  that  particular  mode  of  getting  rid  of  the 
gentleman  alone.  But  if  there  was  a  bed  newly 
made  up,  to  which  the  children  were  to  be  taken, 
and  it  was  proposed  to  take  a  batch  of  young  snakes 
and  put  them  there  with  them,  I  take  it  no  man 
would  say  there  was  any  question  how  I  ought  to 
decide. 

201 

(In  Regard  to  Appointments— Hapgood,   p.    349.) 

I  suppose  that  if  the  twelve  apostles  were  to  be 
chosen  nowadays,  the  shrieks  of  locality  would 
have  to  be  heeded. 

202 

(March  1,  1859,  Speech  at  Chicago,  111.— Complete  Works,  Vol.  I, 
p.  528.) 

I  am  afraid  of  the  result  upon  organized  action 
where  great  results  are  in  view,  if  any  of  us  allow 
ourselves  to  seek  out  minor  or  separate  points,  on 
which  there  may  be  difference  of  views  as  to  policy 
and  right,  and  let  them  keep  us  from  uniting  in 
action  upon  a  great  principle  in  a  cause  on  which 
we  all  agree;  or  are  deluded  into  the  belief  that 
all  can  be  brought  to  consider  alike  and  agree  upon 
every  minor  point  before  we  unite  and  press  for- 
ward in  organization,  asking  the  co-operation  of  all 
good  men  in  that  resistance  to  slavery  upon  which 
we  all  agree.  I  am  afraid  that  such  methods  would 


Patty  Policy  j^ 

result  in  keeping  the  friends  of  liberty  waiting  long- 
er than  we  ought  to.  I  say  this  for  the  purpose  of 
suggesting  that  we  consider  whether  it  would  not  be 
better  and  wiser,  so  long  as  we  all  agree  that  this 
matter  of  slavery  is  a  moral,  political  and  social 
wrong,  and  ought  to  be  treated  as  a  wrong,  not  to 
let  anything  minor  or  subsidiary  to  that  main  prin- 
ciple and  purpose  make  us  fail  to  co-operate. 

203 

(February  27,  1860,  Speech  at  Cooper  Institute,  New  York— How- 
ells,   p.   213.) 

Let  us  be  diverted  by  none  of  those  sophistical 
contrivances  wherewith  we  are  so  industriously  plied 
and  belabored — contrivances  such  as  groping  for 
some  middle  ground  between  the  right  and  the 
wrong;  vain  as  the  search  for  a  man  who  should 
be  neither  a  living  man  nor  a  dead  man;  such  as  a 
policy  of  'don't  care'  on  a  question  about  which  all 
true  men  do  care;  such  as  union  appeals  beseeching 
true  men  to  yield  to  disunionists,  reversing  the 
divine  rule,  and  calling  not  the  sinners  but  the 
righteous  to  repentance;  such  as  invocations  to 
Washington,  imploring  men  to  unsay  what  Wash- 
ington said,  and  undo  what  Washington  did. 
Neither  let  us  be  slandered  from  our  duty  by  false 
accusations  against  us,  nor  frightened  from  it  by 
menaces  of  destruction  to  the  government,  nor  of 
dungeons  to  ourselves.  Let  us  have  faith  that  right 


144  Party  Policy 

makes  might  and  in  that  faith  let  us  to  the  end  dare 
to  do  our  duty  as  we  understand  it. 

204 

(June  9,   1864,    From   Reply   to   a   Delegation   from   the   National 
Union  League— Hapgood,  p.  352.) 

I  do  not  allow  myself  to  suppose  that  either  the 
convention  or  the  League  have  concluded  to  decide 
that  I  am  either  the  greatest  or  best  man  in  America, 
but  rather  they  have  concluded  that  it  is  not  best 
to  swap  horses  while  crossing  the  river,  and  have 
further  concluded  that  I  am  not  so  poor  a  horse 
that  they  might  not  make  a  botch  of  it  in  trying  to 
swap. 

205 

(November  19,  1858,  From  Letter  to  A.  G.  Henry— Complete  Works, 
Vol.   I,   p.   521.) 

As  a  general  rule,  out  of  Sangamon  as  well  as 
in  it,  much  of  the  plain  old  Democracy  is  with  us, 
while  nearly  all  the  old  exclusive  silk-stocking  whig- 
gery  is  against  us.  I  don't  mean  nearly  all  the  Old 
Whig  party,  but  nearly  all  of  the  nice  exclusive  sort. 

206 

(June    12,  1848,    From    Letter    to    Archibald    Williams -Complete 
Works,  Vol.  I,  p.  122.) 

In  my  opinion  we  shall  have  a  most  overwhelm- 
ing, glorious  triumph.  One  unmistakable  sign  is 
that  all  the  odds  and  ends  are  with  us — barnburners, 


Parly  Policy  I45 

native  Americans,  Tyler  men,  disappointed  office- 
seeking  locofocos,  and  the  Lord  knows  what. 

207 

(July  6,  1859,   Prom  Letter  to  Schuyler  Colfax— Complete  Works, 
Vol.    I,    p.    535.) 

In  a  word,  in  every  locality  we  should  look  be- 
yond our  noses;  and  at  least  say  nothing  on  points 
where  it  is  probable  we  shall  disagree. 

208 

(February  27,  1860,  Cooper  Institute  Speech,  New  York— Howells, 
p.   201.) 

The  fact  that  we  get  no  votes  in  your  section  is 
a  fact  of  your  making,  and  not  of  ours.  And  if 
there  be  fault  in  that  fact,  that  fault  is  primarily 
yours,  and  remains  so  until  you  show  that  we  repel 
you  by  some  wrong  principle  or  practice.  If  we  do 
repel  you  by  any  wrong  principle  or  practice,  the' 
fault  is  ours;  but  this  brings  you  to  where  you 
ought  to  have  started — to  a  discussion  of  the  right 
or  wrong  of  our  principle. 

209 

(June   22,    1848,   From   Letter  to   William  H.   Herndon— Herndon, 
p.   284.) 

Now,  as  to  the  young  men.  You  must  not  wait 
to  be  brought  forward  by  the  older  men.  For  in- 
stance, do  you  suppose  that  I  should  ever  have  got 
into  notice  if  I  had  waited  to  be  hunted  up  and 


146  Patty  Policy 

pushed  forward  by  older  men?  You  young  men 
get  together  and  form  a  "Rough  and  Ready  Club/' 
and  have  regular  meetings  and  speeches.  Take  in 
everybody  you  can  get.  *  *  *  As  you  go  along 
gather  up  all  the  shrewd,  wild  boys  about  town, 
whether  just  of  age  or  a  little  under  age.  *  *  * 
Let  every  one  play  the  part  he  can  play  best — some 
speak,  some  sing  and  all  halloo. 

210 

(February  22,   1842,   Speech  at  Springfield,   111.— Complete   Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  59.) 

When  the  conduct  of  men  is  designed  to  be  in- 
fluenced, persuasion,  kind,  unassuming  persuasion 
should  ever  be  adopted.  It  is  an  old  and  a  true 
maxim,  That  a  drop  of  honey  catches  more  flies 
than  a  gallon  of  gall.'  So  with  men.  If  you  would 
.win  a  man  to  your  cause,  first  convince  him  that 
you  are  his  sincere  friend.  Therein  is  a  drop  of 
honey  that  catches  his  heart,  which,  say  what  he  will, 
is  the  great  high  road  to  his  reason  and  which  when 
once  gained,  you  will  find  but  little  trouble  in  con- 
vincing his  judgment  of  the  justice  of  your  cause, 
if  indeed  that  cause  really  be  a  just  one. 

211 

(May  14,  1859,  Letter  to  M.  W.  Delahay— Herndon,  p.  451.) 

You  will  probably  adopt  resolutions  in  the  nature 
of  a  platform.  I  think  the  only  temptation  will  be 
to  lower  the  Republican  standard  in  order  to  gather 


Party  Policy  147 

recruits.  In  my  judgment  such  a  step  would  be 
a  serious  mistake,  and  open  a  gap  through  which 
more  would  pass  out  than  pass  in.  And  this  would 
be  the  same  whether  the  letting  down  should  be  in 
deference  to  Douglasism  or  to  the  Southern  oppo- 
sition element;  either  would  surrender  the  object ' 
of  the  Republican  organization — the  preventing  of 
the  spread  and  nationalization  of  slavery.  This  ob- 
ject surrendered,  the  organization  would  go  to 
pieces.  I  do  not  mean  by  this  that  no  Southern  man 
must  be  placed  upon  our  national  ticket  in  1860. 
There  are  many  men  in  the  slave  States  for  any  one 
of  whom  I  could  cheerfully  vote  to  be  either  Presi- 
dent or  Vice-President,  provided  he  would  enable 
me  to  do  so  with  safety  to  the  Republican  cause, 
without  lowering  the  Republican  standard.  This 
is  the  indispensable  condition  of  a  union  with  us; 
it  is  idle  to  talk  of  any  other.  Any  other  would  be 
as  fruitless  to  the  South  as  distasteful  to  the  North, 
the  whole  ending  in  common  defeat.  Let  a  union 
be  attempted  on  the  basis  of  ignoring  the  slavery 
question,  and  magnifying  other  questions,  which 
the  people  are  just  now  not  caring  about,  and  it 
will  result  in  gaining  no  single  electoral  vote  in  the 
South  and  losing  every  one  in  the  North. 

212 

(August  22,  1862,  Letter  to  Horace  Greeley— Hanaford,  p.  241.) 

My  paramount  object  is  to  save  the  Union  and 


148  Party  Policy 

not  either  to  save  or  destroy  slavery.  If  I  could 
save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slaves  I  would 
do  it,  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves  I 
would  do  it,  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  some 
and  leaving  others  alone  I  would  also  do  that.  *  * 
I  shall  try  to  correct  errors  when  shown  to  be 
errors,  and  I  shall  adopt  new  views  so  fast  as  they 
shall  appear  to  be  true  views.  I  have  here  stated 
my  purpose  according  to  my  views  of  official  duty, 
and  I  intend  no  modification  of  my  oft  expressed 
personal  wish  that  all  men  everywhere  could  be 
free. 

213 

(To  a  Delegation  of  Ministers— Hapgood,   p.  216.) 

Gentlemen :  Suppose  all  the  property  you  possess 
were  in  gold  and  you  had  placed  it  in  the  hands  of 
Blondin  to  carry  across  the  Niagara  River  on  a 
rope.  With  slow,  cautious,  steady  step  he  walks 
the  rope  bearing  your  all.  Would  you  shake  the 
cable  and  keep  shouting  to  him,  "Blondin,  stand 
up  a  little  straighter;"  "Blondin,  stoop  a  little  more; 
go  a  little  faster;  lean  more  to  the  south,  now  lean 
a  little  more  to  the  north," — would  that  be  your 
behavior  in  such  an  emergency?  No.  You  would 
hold  your  breath,  every  one  of  you,  as  well  as  your 
tongues.  You  would  keep  your  hands  off  until  he 
was  safe  on  the  other  side.  This  government,  gen- 


Patty  Policy  i^g 

tlemen,  is  carrying  an  immense  weight,  untold  treas- 
ures are  in  its  hands.  The  persons  managing  the 
Ship  of  State  in  this  storm  are  doing  the  best  they 
can.  Don't  worry  them  with  needless  warnings  and 
complaints.  Keep  silence,  be  patient,  and  we  will 
get  you  safe  across. 

214 

(February  27,  1860,  Speech  at  Cooper  Institute,  New  York— How- 
ells,  p.  202.) 

But  you  say  you  are  conservative — eminently  con- 
servative— while  we  are  revolutionary,  destructive, 
or  something  of  the  sort.  What  is  conservatism? 
Is  it  not  adherence  to  the  old  and  tried,  against  the 
new  and  untried?  We  stick  to,  contend  for,  the 
identical  old  policy  on  the  point  in  controversy, 
which  was  adopted  by  "our  fathers  who  framed  the 
government  under  which  we  live,"  while  you  with 
one  accord  reject,  and  scout,  and  spit  upon  that  old 
policy,  and  insist  upon  substituting  something  new. 

215 

(March  6,   1860,   Speech  at  New  Haven,   Conn.— Complete   Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  622.) 

You  say  you  think  slavery  a  wrong,  but  you  re- 
nounce all  attempts  to  restrain  it.  Is  there  anything 
else  that  you  think  wrong,  that  you  are  not  willing 
to  deal  with  as  a  wrong?  Why  are  you  so  careful, 
so  tender  of  this  one  wrong  and  no  other?  You 
will  not  let  us  do  a  single  thing  as  if  it  was  a  wrong; 


150  Party  Policy 

there  is  no  place  where  you  will  allow  it  to  be  even 
called  wrong.  We  must  not  call  it  wrong  in  the 
free  States,  because  it  is  not  there,  and  we  must  not 
call  it  wrong  in  the  slave  States,  because  it  is  there ; 
we  must  not  call  it  wrong  in  politics,  because  that  is 
bringing  morality  into  politics,  and  we  must  not 
call  it  wrong  in  the  pulpit,  because  that  is  bringing 
politics  into  religion;  we  must  not  bring  it  into 
the  Tract  Society,  or  other  societies,  because  those 
are  such  unsuitable  places,  and  there  "is  no  single 
place,  according  to  you,  where  this  wrong  thing  can 
properly  be  called  wrong. 

216 

(February  27,  1860,   Speech  at  Cooper  Institute,  New  York— How- 
ells,   p.   203.) 

Again  you  say  we  have  made  the  slavery  ques- 
tion more  prominent  than  it  formerly  was.  We 
deny  it.  We  admit  that  it  is  more  prominent,  but 
we  deny  that  we  made  it  so.  It  was  not  "we  but  you, 
who  discarded  the  old  policy  of  the  fathers.  We 
resisted,  and  still  resist  your  innovation ;  and  thence 
comes  the  greater  prominence  of  the  question. 
Would  you  have  that  question  reduced  to  its  former 
proportions?  Go  back  to  that  old  policy.  What 
has  been  will  be  again,  under  the  same  conditions. 
If  you  would  have  the  peace  of  the  old  times,  re- 
adopt  the  precepts  and  policy  of  the  old  time. 


Party  Policy  x  -  r 

217 

(July  10,  1858,  Speech  at  Chicago,  111.— Debates,  p.  22.) 

You  have  done  the  labor;  maintain  it — keep  it. 
If  men  choose  to  serve  you,  go  with  them;  but  as 
you  have  made  up  your  organization  upon  principle, 
stand  by  it;  for  as  surely  as  God  reigns  over  you 
and  has  inspired  your  mind,  and  given  you  a  sense 
of  propriety,  and  continues  to  give  you  hope,  so 
surely  will  you  still  cling  to  these  ideas,  and  you 
will  at  last  come  back  again  after  your  wanderings, 
merely  to  do  your  work  over  again. 

218 

(December  1-5,   1859,    Speeches  in  Kansas— Complete  Works,   Vol. 
I,   p.    593.) 

To  effect  our  main  object  we  have  to  employ 
auxiliary  means.  We  must  hold  conventions,  adopt 
platforms,  select  candidates  and  carry  elections.  At 
every  step  we  must  be  true  to  the  main  purpose.  If 
we  adopt  a  platform  falling  short  of  our  principle, 
or  elect  a  man  rejecting  our  principle,  we  not  only 
take  nothing  affirmative  by  our  success,  but  we 
draw  upon  us  the  positive  embarrassment  of  seem- 
ing ourselves  to  have  abandoned  our  principle. 

That  our  principle,  however  baffled  or  delayed, 
will  finally  triumph,  I  do  not  permit  myself  to  doubt. 
Men  will  pass  away — die,  die  politically  and  natur- 
ally; but  the  principle  will  live  and  live  forever. 


152  Party  Policy 

Organizations  rallied  around  that  principle  may,  by 
their  own  dereliction,  go  to  pieces,  thereby  losing 
all  their  time  and  labor;  but  the  principle  will  re- 
main, and  will  reproduce  another,  and  another  till 
the  final  triumph  will  come.  But  to  bring  it  soon 
we  must  save  our  labor  already  performed — our 
organization,  which  has  cost  us  so  much  time  and 
toil  to  create. 

We  must  keep  our  principle  constantly  in  view, 
and  never  be  false  to  it. 

And  as  to  men  for  leaders,  we  must  remember 
that,  'He  that  is  not  for  us  is  against  us,  and  he 
that  gathereth  not  with  us  scattereth.' 

219 

(September  17,  1859,  Speech  at  Cincinnati,  O.— Debates,  p.  268.) 

To  do  these  things  we  must  employ  instrumen- 
talities. We  must  hold  conventions;  we  must  adopt 
platforms,  if  we  conform  to  ordinary  custom;  we 
must  nominate  candidates ;  and  we  must  carry  elec- 
tions. In  all  these  things  I  think  that  we  ought  to 
keep  in  view  our  real  purpose,  and  in  none  do  any- 
thing that  stands  adverse  to  our  purpose.  If  we 
shall  adopt  a  platform  that  fails  to  recognize  or  ex- 
press our  purpose,  or  elect  a  man  that  declares  him- 
self inimical  to  our  purpose,  we  not  only  take  noth- 
ing by  our  success,  but  we  tacitly  admit  that  we  act 
upon  no  other  principle  than  a  desire  to  liave  'the 


Parly  Policy  153 

loaves  and  fishes,  by  which,  in  the  end,  our  appar- 
ent success  is  really  an  injury  to  us. 

I  know  that  it  is  very  desirable  with  me,  as  with 
everybody  else,  that  all  the  elements  of  the  oppo- 
sition shall  unite  in  the  next  presidential  election, 
and  in  all  future  time.  I  am  anxious  that  that 
should  be,  but  there  are  things  seriously  to  be  con- 
sidered in  relation  to  that  matter.  If  the  terms  can 
be  arranged,  I  am  in  favor  of  the  union.  But  sup- 
pose we  shall  take  up -some  man,  and  put  him  on 
one  end  or  the  other  of  the  ticket,  who  declares  him- 
self against  us  in  regard  to  the  prevention  of  the 
spread  of  slavery,  who  turns  up  his  nose  and  says 
he  is  tired  of  hearing  anything  more  about  it,  who 
is  more  against  us  than  against  the  enemy — what 
will  be  the  issue?  Why,  he  will  get  no  slave  States 
after  all — he  has  tried  that  already  until  being  beat 
is  the  rule  for  him.  If  we  nominate  him  upon  that 
ground,  he  will  not  carry  a  slave  State,  and  not  only 
so,  but  that  portion  of  our  men  who  are  high  strung 
upon  the  principle  we  really  fight  for  will  not  go 
for  him,  and  he  won't  get  a  single  electoral  vote  any- 
where, except,  perhaps,  in  the  State  of  Maryland. 
There  is  no  use  in  saying  to  us  that  we  are  stubborn 
and  obstinate  because  we  won't  do  some  such  thing 
as  this.  We  cannot  do  it.  We  cannot  get  our  men 
to  vote  it.  I  speak  by  the  card,  that  we  cannot 
give  the  State  of  Illinois  in  such  case  by  fifty  thou- 


154  P*rty  Policy 

sand.  *  *  *  After  saying  this  much,  let  me  say 
a  little  on  the  other  side.  There  are  plenty  of  men 
in  the  slave  States  that  are  altogether  good  enough 
for  me  to  be  either  President  or  Vice-President, 
provided  they  will  profess  their  sympathy  with  our 
purpose,  and  will  place  themselves  on  the  ground 
that  our  men,  upon  principle,  can  vote  for  them. 
There  are  scores  of  them — good  men  in  their  char- 
acter for  intelligence,  and  talent,  and  integrity.  If 
such  a  one  will  place  himself  upon  the  right  ground, 
I  am  for  his  occupying  one  place  upon  the  next 
Republican  or  Opposition  ticket.  I  will  heartily  go 
for  him.  But  unless  he  does  so  place  himself,  I 
think  it  a  matter  of  perfect  nonsense  to  attempt  to 
bring  about  a  union  upon  any  other  basis;  that  if 
a  union  be  made,  the  elements  will  scatter  so  that 
there  can  be  no  success  for  such  a  ticket,  nor  any- 
thing like  success.  The  good  old  maxims  of  the 
Bible  are  applicable,  and  truly  applicable  to  human 
affairs,  and  in  this,  as  in  other  things,  we  may  say 
here  that  "he  who  is  not  for  us  is  against  us ;  he  who 
gathereth  not  with  us  scattereth." 

220 

(June  17,  1858,  Speech  at  Springfield,  111.,    State  Convention— De- 
bates, p.  5.) 

,  Our  cause,  then,  must  be  entrusted  to,  and  con- 
ducted by,  its  own  undoubted  friends — those  whose 
hands  are  free,  whose  hearts  are  in  the  work,  who 


Party  Policy  155 

do  care  for  results.  Two  years  ago  the  Republicans 
of  the  nation  mustered  over  thirteen  hundred  thou- 
sand strong.  We  did  this  under  the  single  impulse 
of  resistance  to  a  common  danger,  with  every  ex- 
ternal circumstance  against  us.  Of  strange,  dis- 
cordant and  even  hostile  elements  we  gathered  from 
the  four  winds,  and  formed  and  fought  the  battle 
through,  under  the  constant,  hot  fire  of  a  disci- 
plined, proud  and  pampered  enemy.  Did  we  brave 
all  then  to  falter  now? — now,  when  that  same  enemy 
is  wavering,  dissevered  and  belligerent?  The  re- 
sult is  not  doubtful.  We  shall  not  fail — if  we  stand 
firm,  we  shall  not  fail.  Wise  counsels  may  acceler- 
ate or  mistakes  delay  it,  but  sooner  or  later  the 
victory  is  sure  too  come. 

221 

(March  1,  1859,  Speech  at  Chicago,  111.— Complete  Works,   Vol.  I, 
p.    531.) 

If  we  do  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  allured  from 
the  strict  path  of  our  duty  by  such  a  device  as  shift- 
ing our  ground  and  throwing  us  into  the  rear  of  a 
leader  who  denies  our  first  principles,  denies  that 
there  is  an  absolute  wrong  in  the  institution  of 
slavery,  then  the  future  of  the  Republican  cause  is 
safe  and  victory  is  assured.  You  Republicans  of 
Illinois  have  deliberately  taken  your  ground;  you 
have  heard  the  whole  subject  discussed  again  and 
again;  you  have  stated  your  faith  in  platforms  laid 


156  Party  Policy 

down  in  a  State  convention  and  in  a  national  con- 
vention; you  have  heard  and  talked  over  and  con- 
sidered it  until  you  are  now  all  of  opinion  that  you 
are  on  a  ground  of  unquestionable  right.  All  you 
have  to  do  is  to  keep  the  faith,  to  remain  steadfast 
to  the  right,  to  stand  by  your  banner.  Nothing 
should  lead  you  to  leave  your  guns.  Stand  together, 
ready,  with  match  in  hand.  Allow  nothing  to  turn 
you  to  the  right  or  the  left.  Remember  how  long 
you  have  been  in  setting  out  on  the  true  course; 
how  long  you  have  been  in  getting  your  neighbors 
to  understand  and  believe  as  you  now  do.  Stand 
by  your  principles;  stand  by  your  guns,  and  victory, 
complete  and  permanent,  is  sure  at  the  last. 

222 

(March  1,  1859,   Speech  at  Chicago,  111.— Complete  Works,  Vol.   I, 
p.  529.) 

I  have  believed  that  in  the  Republican  situation 
in  Illinois,  if  we,  the  Republicans  of  this  State,  had 
made  Judge  Douglas  our  candidate  for  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States  last  year,  and  had  elected  him, 
there  would  to-day  be  no  Republican  party  in  this 
Union.  I  believe  that  the  principles  around  which 
we  rallied  and  organized  that  party  would  live;  they 
will  live  under  all  circumstances,  while  we  die.  They 
would  produce  another  party  in  the  future.  But  in 
the  mean  time  all  the  labor  that  has  been  done  to 


Party  Policy  ™ 

build  up  the  present  Republican  party  would  be 
entirely  lost,  and  perhaps  twenty  years  of  time,  be- 
fore we  would  again  have  formed  around  that  prin- 
ciple as  solid,  extensive  and  formidable  an  organi- 
zation as  we  have,  standing  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
to-night,  in  harmony  and  strength  around  the  Re- 
publican banner. 

223 

(December  1-5,   1859,   Speeches   in   Kansas— Complete   Works,   Vol. 
I,    p.    592.) 

The  St.  Louis  "Intelligencer"  is  out  in  favor  of 
a  good  man  for  President,  to  be  run  without  a 
platform.  Well,  I  am  not  wedded  to  the  formal 
written  platform  system,  but  a  thousand  to  one  the 
editor  is  not  himself  in  favor  of  his  plan,  except, 
with  the  qualification  that  he  and  his  sort  are  to 
select  and  name  the  "good  man."  To  bring  him  to 
the  test,  is  he  willing  to  take  Seward  without  a  plat- 
form? Oh,  no;  Seward's  antecedents  exclude  him, 
say  you.  Well,  is  your  good  man  without  antece- 
dents? If  he  is,  how  shall  the  nation  know  that  he 
is  a  good  man?  The  sum  of  the  matter  is  that,  in 
the  absence  of  formal  written  platforms,  the  ante- 
cedents of  candidates  become  their  platform.  On 
just  such  platforms  all  our  earlier  and  better  Presi- 
dents were  elected,  but  this  by  no  means  facilitates 
a  union  of  men  who  differ  in  principles. 


158  Party  Policy 

224 

(October  16,   1854,   Speech  at  Peoria,  111.— Howells,  p.   302.) 

Our  senator  also  objects  that  those  who  oppose 
him  in  this  matter  do  not  entirely  agree  with  one 
another.  He  reminds  me  that  in  my  firm  adherence 
to  the  Constitutional  rights  of  the  slave  States,  I 
differ  widely  from  others  who  are  co-operating 
with  me  in  opposing  the  Nebraska  bill,  and  he  says 
it  is  not  quite  fair  to  oppose  him  in  this  variety  of 
ways.  He  should  remember  that  he  took  us  by  sur- 
prise— astounded  us  by.  this  measure.  We  were 
thunderstruck  and  stunned,  and  we  reeled  and  fell 
in  utter  confusion.  But  we  arose,  each  fighting, 
grasping  whatever  he  could  first  reach — a  scythe,  a 
pitchfork,  a  chopping  ax,  or  a  butcher's  cleaver. 
We  struck  in  the  direction  of  the  sound,  and  we 
were  rapidly  closing  in  upon  him.  He  must  not 
think  to  divert  us  from  our  purpose  by  showing  us 
that  our  drill,  our  dress  and  our  weapons  are  not 
entirely  perfect  and  uniform.  When  the  storm  shall 
be  past  he  shall  find  us  still  Americans  no  less  de- 
voted to  the  continued  union  and  prosperity  of  the 
country  than  heretofore. 


225 

>omingt< 
a,  p.  93. 

Let  us,  in  building  our  new  party,  plant  ourselves 


(May  29,  1856,   Speech   at  Bloomington,   111.,  at  the  formation  of 
party  in  the  State— Arnold,  p.  93.) 


Party  Policy  159 

on  the  rock  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and 
the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  be  able  to  prevail 
against  us. 

226 

(October  16,  1854,  Speech  at  Peoria,  111.,  concerning  fusion— Bar- 
rett, p.  127.) 

Stand  with  anybody  that  stands  right,  stand  with 
him  while  he  is  right  and  part  with  him  when  he 
goes  wrong. 


MISCELLANY— WAR,   PEACE,  TEMPER- 
ANCE, EMANCIPATION. 
227 

(1856,   Brief  Address  to  Springfield  Abolitionists— Irelan,Vol.XVll, 
p.    683.) 

Friends:  I  agree  with  you  in  providence,  but  I 
believe  in  the  providence  of  the  most  men, — the 
longest  purse  and  the  largest  cannon. 

228 

(April   4,   1864,   Letter   to   Hodges— Barrett,   p.   481.) 

I  claim  not  to  have  controlled  events,  but  confess 
plainly  that  events  have  controlled  me. 

229 

(December   1,    1862,    Annual   Message— Van   Buren,   p.   233.) 

In  times  like  the  present,  men  should  utter  noth- 
ing for  which  they  would  not  willingly  be  responsi- 
ble through  time  and  in  eternity. 

230 

(December  20,   1839,    Speech   at   Springfield,   111.— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  26.) 

What  has  once  happened  will  invariably  happen 
again  when  the  same  circumstances  which  combined 
to  produce  it  shall  again  combine  in  the  same  way. 

161 


1 62  *  Miscellany — War,  Peace, 

231 

(March    9,    1832,    Address    to    the    People    of    Sangarnon    County, 
111.— Irelan,  Vol.  XVI,  p.  102.) 

Holding  it  a  sound  maxim  that  it  is  better  only 
sometimes  to  be  right  than  at  all  times  wrong,  so 
soon  as  I  discover  my  opinions  to  ,be  erroneous  I 
shall  be  ready  to  renounce  them. 

232 

(March   1,    1864,    Letter    to    Secretary    Stanton— Complete    Works, 
Vol.  II,  p.   490.) 

I  do  not  like  this  punishment  of  withholding  pay  : 
it  falls  so  very  hard  on  poor  families. 

233 

(February   5,    1864,   Note   to  Secretary   of  War— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  II,  p.  478.) 

On  principle  I  dislike  an  oath  which  requires  a 
man  to  swear  he  has  done  no  wrong.  It  rejects  the 
Christian  principle  of  forgiveness  on  terms  of  re- 
pentance. I  think  it  is  enough  if  the  man  does  no 
wrong  hereafter. 

234 

(Coffin,  p.   88.) 

All  questions  of  social  and  moral  reform  find 
lodgment  first  with  enlightened  souls,  who  stamp 
them  with  their  approval.  In  God's  own  time  they 
will  be  organized  into  law,  and  thus  woven  into  the 
fabric  of  our  institutions. 


Temperance  >  Emancipation  163 

235 

(February   11,   1861,   Speech   on   Leaving  Springfield   for  Washing- 
ton—Herndon,   p.   486.) 

My  friends:  No  one,  not  in  my  situation,  can 
appreciate  my  feelings  of  sadness  at  this  parting.^ 
To  this  place,  and  the  kindness  of  these  people,  I 
owe  everything.  Here  I  have  lived  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  and  have  passed  from  a  young  to  an  old 
man.  Here  my  children  have  been  born,  and  one  is 
buried.  I  now  leave  not  knowing  when  or  whether 
ever  I  may  return,  with  a  task  before  me  greater 
than  that  which  rested  upon  Washington.  Without 
the' assistance  of  that  Divine  Being  who  ever  attend- 
ed him,  I  cannot  succeed.  With  that  assistance,  I 
cannot  fail.  Trusting  in  Him  who  can  go  with  me, 
and  remain  with  you,  and  be  everywhere  for  good, 
let  us  confidently  hope  that  all  will  yet  be  well.  To 
His  care  commending  you,  as  I  hope  in  your 
prayers  you  will  commend  me,  I  bid  you  an  affec- 
tionate farewell. 

236 

(March    4,    1861,    First    Inaugural— Van    Buren,    p.    61.) 

I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but 
friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion 
may  have  strained,  it  must  not  break  our  bonds  of 
affection.  The  mystic  cords  of  memory,  stretching 
from  every  battlefield  and  patriot  grave  to  every  liv- 
ing heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land, 


164  Miscellany — War,  Peace ', 

will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union,  when  again 
touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels 
of  our  nature. 

237 

(August  26,  1863,  Letter  to  James  C.   Conkling— Herndon,  p.  555.) 

For  the  great  republic — for  the  principle  it  lives 
by  and  keeps  alive — for  man's  vast  future — thanks 
to  all. 

238 

(August  15,   1864,   From  Interview  with   John  T.   Mills— Complete 
Works,  Vol.  II,  p.  562.) 

There  have  been  men  base  enough  to  propose  to 
me  to  return  to  slavery  the  black  warriors  of  Port 
Hudson  and  Olustee,  and  thus  win  the  respect  of 
the  masters  they  fought.  Should  I  do  so,  I  should 
deserve  to  be  damned  in  time  and  eternity.  Come 
what  will,  I  will  keep  my  faith  with  friend  and  foe. 

239 

(May  30,  1864,  Letter  to  J.  H.  Bryant  in  reference  to  Owen  Love- 
joy— Complete  Works,  Vol.  II,  p.  526.) 

My  personal  acquaintance  with  him  commenced 
only  about  ten  years  ago,  since  when  it  has  been 
quite  intimate,  and  every  step  in  it  has  been  one  of 
increasing  respect  and  esteem,  ending  with  his  life, 
in  no  less  than  affection  on  my  part.  It  can  be  truly 
said  of  him  that  while  he  was  personally  ambitious 
he  bravely  endured  the  obscurity  which  the  unpopu- 


Temperance,  Emancipation  165 

larity  of  his  principles  imposed,  and  never  accepted 
official  honors  until  those  honors  were  ready  to 
admit  his  principles  with  him.  Throughout  very 
heavy  and  perplexing  responsibilities  here,  to  the 
day  of  his  death,  it  would  scarcely  wrong  any  other 
to  say  he  was  my  most  generous  friend. 

Let  him  have  the  marble  monument  along  with 
the  well-assured  and  more  enduring  one  in  the 
hearts  of  those  who  love  liberty  unselfishly  for  all 
men. 

240 

(January  2,  1863,  Letter  to  General  S.  R.  Curtis— Complete  Works, 
Vol.   II,  p.  291.) 

The  United  States  government  must  not,  as 
by  this  order,  undertake  to  run  the  churches. 
When  an  individual  in  a  church  or  out 
of  it  becomes  dangerous  to  the  public  interest,  he 
must  be  checked;  but  let  the  churches,  as  such, 
take  care  of  themselves.  It  will  not  do  for  the 
United  States  to  appoint  trustees,  supervisors,  or 
other  agents  for  the  churches. 

241 

(February  11,   1864,  Note  to   Secretary  Stanton— Complete  Works, 
Vol.   II,  p.  480.) 

I  have  never  interfered  nor  thought  of  interfering 
as  to  who  shall  or  who  shall  not  preach  in  any 
church;  nor  have  I  knowingly  or  believingly  toler- 
ated any  one  else  to  so  interfere  by  my  authority. 


1 66  Miscellany — War,  Peace, 

If  any  one  is  so  interfering  by  color  of  my  authority, 
I  would  like  to  have  it  specifically  made  known  to 
me.  *  *  *  I  will  not  have  control  of  any  church 
on  any  side. 

242 

(July  16,   1852,   Speech  at  Springfield,    111.— Complete  Works,   Vol. 
I,  p.  176.) 

Pharaoh's  country  was  cursed  with  plagues,  and 
his  hosts  were  lost  in  the  Red  Sea,  for  striving  to 
retain  a  captive  people  who  had  already  served  them 
more  than  four  hundred  years.  May  like  disasters 
never  befall  us. 

243 

(July  10,  1848,  Letter  to  W.  H.  Herndon— Herndon,  p.  285.) 

The  way  for  a  young  man  to  rise  is  to  improve 
himself  every  way  he  can,  never  suspecting  that 
anybody  wishes  to  hinder  him.  Allow  me  to  assure 
you  that  suspicion  and  jealousy  never  did  help  any 
man  in  any  situation.  There  may  sometimes  be  un- 
generous attempts  to  keep  a  young  man  down ;  and 
they  will  succeed,  too,  if  he  allows  his  mind  to  be 
diverted  from  its  true  channel  to  brood  over  the 
attempted  injury.  Cast  about  and  see  if  this  feel- 
ing has  not  injured  every  person  you  have  ever 
known  to  fall  into  it. 


Temperance,  Emancipation  167 

244 

(February  22,  1842,  From  an  Address  Before  the  Springfield  Wash- 
ingtonian  Temperance  Society— Complete  Works,  Vol.  I,  p.  59.) 

When  all  such  of  us  as  have  now  reached  the 
years  of  maturity  first  opened  our  eyes  upon  the 
stage  of  existence,  we  found  intoxicating  liquor 
recognized  by  everybody,  used  by  everybody,  re- 
pudiated by  nobody.  It  commonly  entered  into  the 
first  draught  of  the  infant  and  the  last  draught  of 
the  dying  man.  From  the  sideboard  of  the  parson 
down  to  the  ragged  pocket  of  the  houseless  loafer 
it  was  constantly  found.  Physicians  prescribed  it 
in  this,  that,  and  the  other  disease;  government 
provided  it  for  soldiers  and  sailors;  and  to  have  a 
rolling  or  raising,  a  husking  or  'hoedown'  any- 
where about  without  it  was  positively  insufferable. 
So,  too,  it  was  everywhere  a  respectable  article  of 
manufacture  and  merchandise.  The  making  of  it 
was  regarded  as  an  honorable  livelihood,  and  he 
who  could  make  most  was  the  most  enterprising 
and  respectable.  Large  and  small  manufactories  of 
it  were  everywhere  erected,  in  which  all  the  earthly 
goods  of  their  owners  were  invested.  Wagons  drew 
it  from  town  to  town;  boats  bore  it  from  clime  to 
clime,  and  the  winds  wafted  it  from  nation  to  nation, 
and  merchants  bought  and  sold  it,  by  the  wholesale 
and  retail,  with  precisely  the  same  feelings  on  the 
part  of  the  seller,  buyer  and  bystander  as  are  felt 


1 68  Miscellany — War,  Peace, 

at  the  selling  and  buying  of  plows,  beef,  bacon,  or 
any  other  of  the  real  necessaries  of  life.  Universal 
public  opinion  not  only  tolerated  but  recognized 
and  adopted  its  use.  *  *  *  Whether  or  not  the 
world  would  be  vastly  benefited  by  a  total  and  final 
banishment  from  it  of  all  intoxicating  drinks  seems 
to  me  not  now  an  open  question.  Three-fourths  of 
mankind  confess  the  affirmative  with  their  tongues 
and  I  believe  all  the  rest  acknowledge  it  in  their 
hearts. 

245 

(February   22,   1842,    Speech   at  Springfield,    111.— Complete  Works, 
Vol.  I,  p.  63.) 

Of  our  political  revolution  of  '76  we  are  all 
justly  proud.  It  has  given  us  a  degree  of 
political  freedom  far  exceeding  that  of  any  other 
nation  of  the  earth.  In  it  the  world  has  found  a 
solution  of  the  long  mooted  problem  as  ta  the  capa- 
bility of  man  to  govern  himself.  In  it  was  the  germ 
which  has  vegetated,  and  still  is  to  grow  and  ex- 
pand into  the  universal  liberty  of  mankind.  *  *  * 
Turn  now  to  the  temperance  revolution.  In  it  we 
shall  find  a  stronger  bondage  broken,  a  viler  slavery 
manumitted,  a  greater  tyrant  deposed;  in  it,  more 
of  want  supplied,  more  disease  healed,  more  sorrow 
assuaged.  By  it  no  orphans  starving,  no  widows 
weeping.  By  it  none  wounded  in  feeling,  none  in- 
jured in  interest;  even  the  dram-maker  and  dram- 


Temperance,  Emancipation  169 

seller  will  have  glided  into  other  occupations  so 
gradually  as  never  to  have  felt  the  change,  and  will 
stand  ready  to  join  all  others  in  the  universal  song 
of  gladness.  And  what  a  noble  ally  this  to  the 
cause  of  political  freedom;  with  such  an  aid  its 
march  cannot  fail  to  be  on  and  on,  till  every  son  of 
earth  shall  drink  in  rich  fruition  the  sorrow-quench- 
ing draughts  of  perfect  liberty.  Happy  day  when 
— all  appetites  controlled,  all  poisons  subdued,  all 
matter  subjected — mind,  all  conquering  mind,  shall 
live  and  move,  the  monarch  of  the  world.  Glorious 
consummation!  Hail,  fall  of  fury!  Reign  of  reason, 
all  hail! 

246 

(September  29,  1863,  From  Reply  to  Sons  of  Temperance— Barrett, 
p.   827.) 

If  I  were  better  known  than  I  am,  you  would  not 
need  to  be  told  that  in  the  advocacy  of  the  cause  of 
temperance  you  have  a  friend  and  sympathizer  in 
me. 

When  I  was  a  young  man — long  ago — before  the 
Sons  of  Temperance  as  an  organization  had  an  ex- 
istence— I,  in  a  humble  way,  made  temperance 
speeches,  and  I  think  I  may  say  that  to  this  day  I 
have  never,  by  my  example,  belied  what  I  then  said. 
*  *  *  I  think  the  reasonable  men  of  the  world 
have  long  since  agreed  that  intemperance  is  one  of 
the  greatest,  if  not  the  very  greatest,  of  all  evils 


170  Miscellany — War,  Peace, 

among  mankind.  That  is  not  a  matter  of  dispute, 
I  believe.  That  the  disease  exists,  and  that  it  is  a 
very  great  one,  is  agreed  upon  by  all. 

247 

(February  22,  1861,  Speech  at  Harrisburg,  Penn.— Complete  Works, 
Vol.   I,   p.  692.) 

Allusion  has  been  made  to  the  peaceful  princi- 
ples upon  which  this  great  commonwealth  was  or- 
iginally settled.  Allow  me  to  add  my  meed  of  praise 
to  those  peaceful  principles.  I  hope  no  one  of  the 
friends  who  originally  settled  here,  or  who  lived 
here  since  that  time,  or  who  lives  here  now,  has 
been  or  is  a  more  devoted  lover  of  peace,  harmony, 
and  concord  than  my  humble  self. 

While  I  have  been  proud  to  see  to-day  the  finest 
military  array,  I  think,  that  I  have  ever  seen,  allow 
me  to  say,  in  regard  to  those  men,  that  they  give 
hope  of  what  may  be  done  when  war  is  inevitable. 
But  at  the  same  time,  allow  me  to  express  the  hope 
that  in  the  shedding  of  blood  their  services  may 
never  be  needed,  especially  in  the  shedding  of  fra- 
ternal blood.  It  shall  be  my  endeavor  to  preserve 
the  peace  of  this  country  so  far  as  it  can  possibly 
be  done  consistently  with  the  maintenance  of  the 
institutions  of  the  country.  With  my  consent,  or 
without  my  great  displeasure,  this  country  shall 
never  witness  the  shedding  of  one  drop  of  blood  in 
fraternal  strife. 


Temperance,  Emancipation  \  7 1 

248 

(June  16,  1864,  Speech  at  Sanitary  Fair,  Philadelphia,  Penn.— Van 
Buren,  p.  366.) 

War,  at  the  best,  is  terrible,  and  this  war  of  ours, 
in  its  magnitude  and  in  its  duration,  is  one  of  the 
most  terrible.  It  has  deranged  business,  totally  in 
many  localities  and  partially  in  all  localities.  It  has 
destroyed  property  and  ruined  homes;  it  has  pro- 
duced a  national  debt  and  taxation  unprecedented, 
at  least  in  this  country;  it  has  carried  mourning  to 
almost  every  home,  until  it  can  almost  be  said  that 
the  "heavens  are  hung  in  black."  *  *  *  We  ac- 
cepted this  war  for  an  object,  a  worthy  object,  and 
the  war  will  end  when  the  object  is  attained.  Under 
God,  I  hope  it  never  will  end  until  that  time.  Speak- 
ing of  the  present  campaign,  General  Grant  is  re- 
ported to  have  said,  "I  am  going  through  on  this 
line  if  it  takes  all  summer."  This  war  has  taken 
three  years.  It  was  begun  or  accepted  upon  the 
line  of  restoring  the  national  authority  over  the 
whole  national  domain,  and  for  the  American  peo- 
ple, as  far  as  my  knowledge  enables  me  to  speak, 
I  say  we  are  going  through  on  this  line  if  it  takes 
three  years  more. 

249 

(January  1,  1863,  Irelan,  Vol.  XVII,  p.  246.) 

The  Proclamation  of  Emancipation. 
Whereas  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  September, 


172  Miscellany — War,  Peace, 

in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  sixty-two,  a  proclamation  was  issued  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  containing 
among  other  things  the  following,  to-wit : 

That  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty- 
three,  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  any  State, 
or  designated  part  of  a  State,  the  people  whereof 
shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States, 
shall  be,  then,  thenceforth  and  forever,  free;  and 
the  executive  government  of  the  United  States,  in- 
cluding the  military  and  naval  authorities  thereof, 
will  recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom  of  such 
persons,  and  will  do  no  act  or  acts  to  repress  such 
persons,  or  any  of  them,  in  any  efforts  they  may 
make  for  their  actual  freedom. 

That  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first  day  of  Jan- 
uary aforesaid,  by  proclamation,  designate  the 
State,  and  parts  of  States,  if  any,  in  which  the 
people  therein  respectively  shall  then  be  in 
rebellion,  against  the  United  States;  and  the 
fact  that  any  State,  or  the  people  thereof,  shall 
on  that  day  be  in  good  faith  represented  in  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States  by  members  chosen 
thereto  at  elections  wherein  a  majority  of  the  quali- 
fied voters  of  such  State  shall  have  participated, 
shall,  in  the  absence  of  strong  countervailing  testi- 
mony, be  deemed  conclusive  evidence  that  such 


Temperance,  Emancipation  173 

State  and  the  people  thereof,  are  not  then  in  re- 
bellion against  the  United  States. 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of 
the  United  States,  by  virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested 
as  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the 
United  States,  in  time  of  actual  armed  rebellion 
against  the  authority  and  government  of  the  United 
States,  and  as  a  fit  and  necessary  war  measure  for 
suppressing  said  rebellion,  do,  on  this  first  day  of 
January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  and  in  accordance 
with  my  purpose  so  to  do,  publicly  proclaimed  for 
the  full  period  of  one  hundred  days  from  the  day 
of  the  first  above  mentioned  order,  designate  as 
the  States,  wherein  the  people  thereof  respectively 
are  this  day  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States, 
the  following,  to  wit:  Arkansas,  Texas,  Louisiana, 
except  the  parishes  of  St,  Bernard,  Plaquemines, 
Jefferson,  St.  John,  St.  Charles,  St.  James,  Ascen- 
sion, Assumption,  Terre  Bonne,  Lafourche,  St. 
Mary,  St.  Martin  and  Orleans,  including  the  city  of 
New  Orleans;  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Florida,  Geor- 
gia, South  Carolina,  North  Carolina  and  Virginia, 
except  the  forty-eight  counties  designated  as  West 
Virginia,  and  also  the  counties  of  Berkley,  Ac- 
comae,  Northampton,  Elizabeth  City,  York,  Prin- 
cess Ann  and  Norfolk,  including  the  cities  of 
Norfolk  and  Portsmouth,  and  which  excepted  parts 


174  Miscellany — War,  Peace, 

are,  for  the  present,  left  precisely  as  if  this  procla- 
mation were  not  issued. 

And  by  virtue  of  the  power,  and  for  the  purpose 
aforesaid,  I  do  order  and  declare  that  all  persons 
held  as  slaves  witfiin  said  designated  States,  and 
parts  of  States,  are,  and  henceforward  shall  be,  free ; 
and  that  the  executive  government  of  the  United 
States,  including  the  military  and  naval  authorities 
thereof,  will  recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom  of 
said  persons. 

And  I  hereby  enjoin  upon  the  people  so  declared 
to  be  free  to  abstain  from  all  violence,  unless  in 
necessary  self-defense,  and  I  recommend  to  them 
that  in  all  cases,  when  allowed,  they  labor  faithfully 
for  reasonable  wages. 

And  I  further  declare  and  make  known  that  such 
persons  of  suitable  condition  will  be  received  into 
the  armed  service  of  the  United  States  to  garrison 
forts,  positions,  stations  and  other  places,  and  to 
man  vessels  of  all  sorts  in  said  service. 

And  upon  this,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of 
justice,  warranted  by  the  Constitution,  upon  mili- 
tary necessity,  I  invoke  the  considerate  judgment 
of  mankind  and  the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty 
God. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand 


Temperance ',  Emancipation  175 

and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  af- 
fixed. 

[L.  S.]  Done  at  the  City  of  Washington,  this  first 
day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty- 
three,  and  of  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  of  America  the  eighty- 
seventh. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
By  the  President: 

William  H.  Seward, 

Secretary  of  State. 
250 

(December    8,    1863,    Annual    Message— Complete    Works,    Vol.    II, 
p.   453.) 

According  to  our  political  system,  as  a  matter 
of  civil  administration,  the  general  government  had 
no  lawful  power  to  effect  emancipation  in  any 
State,  and  for  a  long  time  it  had  been  hoped  that 
the  rebellion  could  be  suppressed  without  resorting 
to  it  as  a  military  measure.  It  was  all  the  while 
deemed  possible  that  the  necessity  for  it  might 
come,  and  that  if  it  should,  the  crisis  of  the  contest 
would  then  be  presented. 


